The truth is out there and exclusive To IndieWire: NeonS “Shelby oaks“Will open in us theaters on October 3. The audience -financed horror movie from Youtuber and film critic Chris Stuckmann Ended three days of re -schools back in early March. The rollist and crew were in place in Cleveland, Ohio, and worked at a newly designed sound stage and inside the real prison/museum from “The Shawshank Redemption.” They found the pictures first made possible of one $ 1.39 million Kickstarter campaign And the support from the executive producer Mike Flanagan, who is Mentored Stuckmann for several years.
Neon acquired “shelby oaks” Just a few days before it premiered at Fantasia Fest in Montreal in July last year. The studio was still raised high on “Longlegs,” Its most successful film so far, when Stuckmann’s paranormal mystery opened to mostly positive reviews; Indieview gave it a “b-.” That version of “Shelby Oaks” was shown again at Fried Fest UK before the movie – suitable for a missing Youtuber – disappeared in the cinematic ether at the end of last year.
Since then, Indiewire has been told that Neon has increased the project by an unclear amount of supplementary funding that enabled Stuckmann to increase “gore and violence.” The plot centers around a group of ghost hunters on the internet who is desperate to find out what happened to their friend, Riley (played by Sarah Durn). Estimates from several anonymous sources close to production indicate that the cash injection may have doubled its original budget. (“Shelby Oaks” had a second ongoing collection through the filmmaker’s website as ended earlier this month.)
“We could go back to the movie on a couple of important points and really look up some particularly bloody elements,” Stuckmann said in A collection video. “I can’t even express how outstanding it is to an independent filmmaker.”
Talk to IndieWire, producer Aaron Koontz From Paper Street Pictures described how the Reshooten happened. “We sent neon materials and they saw the movie. They loved it and we were very pleased with what we showed on Fantasia,” Koontz said. “But when Neon read the script and looked through it, they noticed that there were scenes that we did not film and moments that we had to tone down because we couldn’t really pull them with the budget we had. They said:” Would you have wanted to do it if you could? ”
Neon also took in editor Brett W. Bachman (“Companion”) to give Stuckmann’s film a “fresh edit and polish.” The new images recontextualizes some of the original history, but the name of the game for Stuckmann and Koontz knocked out the practical effects. Creature -actor Derek Mears, known for playing Jason Voorhees in 2009 “Friday the 13th” restart, joined the role in an unclear role. The team had about a week, plus post -production, to spend the same amount of money as it took 14,720 supporters on Kickstarter to contract for the first version of “Shelby oaks.”
The director and producer Explained all this online in AprilAs they returned to Kickstarter after a Hiatus Koontz’s attribute to the film, the finish line approaches. The post contains a written statement from him and a video output from Stuckmann, but none of themselves for industry news. A few weeks later, the new average screening for test groups in Los Angeles began, and the film reintroduced Hollywood’s subconscious. Several anonymous sources talked about these views to IndieWire. Most had not seen the previous cut, but the few who had described this as “better paced” and “scary.”
After it Unmatched Success for “Terifier 3”, Extreme horror is one of the few Big trends control the genre. Koontz told Indiewire that this is not exactly what “Shelby Oaks” goes for, but that the new material will be more intense – and that neon has no problems “pressing Gore.” Among the production’s more ambitious goals, they reconstructed a cell from Ohio State Reformatory where they had previously shot in place in Mansfield, so Stuckmann could move around scenes from a better angle.
“It’s a dark movie, so we lean into it, and neon gave us freedom and the extra means to do it right,” Koontz said. “We could block things in a pretty neat way, and we just can’t wait to show it to people.
“Shelby Oaks” will be a long time, and the latest comments on its Kickstarter page reflect a long history of collisions between indie projects that are financed online and the traditional studio system. From anxiety over Charlie Kaufman’s “Anomalisa” (later nominated for an Oscar) to that Messy “Veronica Mars” -Disposal (large enough to at least attempt Changing the game on Hulu), even the most successful grassroots campaigns over film and television can end in disappointment or disaster. Confusion is often a consequence.
Even after a movie has a premiere, Reshoots and delays are quite standard. A filmmaker can attend a festival, go the red carpet, give press Interviews And even acceptance figures before completing their cuts for wide release. This practice is especially common for low budget horror movies, where extra money and time for special effects go a long way. See “Paranormal activity,” To begin with.
Still, “Shelby Oaks” sets expectations high when Stuckmann promised supporters “an unmatched level of access” and “honesty and openness that you do not find anywhere else.” Concerns from more frustrated fans range from protecting Stuckmann’s creative vision to updating home delivery addresses for future collectable DVDs and BLU rays that they bought back in 2022. Some must change their T-shirt sizes.
“We really thought we would come out last year, and then this amazing thing happens to neon, and they open the door for more things to be done to the film, which means it takes more time,” Koontz said. The producer has answered questions from supporters on the public Kickstarter page, but also told Indiewire that the top “Shelby Oaks” supporters receive regular updates in a private disagreement.
“I can understand 100 percent why (waiting) can be frustrating for supporters, but I think it will be well worth it when it comes out and we meet everything we said we would. We look at some other fun things to do for supporters on top of it, in addition to what in Kickstarter, but I can’t go into details yet.”
Stuckmann (who did not respond to IndieWire’s request for comment) and most of his supporters on Kickstarter agree: more time and more money are unequivocally fantastic assets for an indie movie. Neon reportedly acted as an international sales agent for “Shelby Oaks” Ur Berlin in February (Especially before Reshoots) and highlighted the film as its great horror play for Halloween 2025. One such push from Neon is a huge deal, the year after “Longlegs” crushed checkout and “Anora” won the best picture.
Koontz refused to share something about the marketing campaign “Shelby Oaks” and said that everything will be revealed.
“I would currently do a deal with neon to make every single paper street pictures movie with them forever. In a second, without even blinking an eye. They are phenomenal,” the producer continued. A familiar face in Indiefilm who has been navigating in its constantly evolving challenges for several years, Koontz continued, “they are not part of the Hollywood machine. Really. They are outside it. They put their money where their mouths are. They are fantastic curators. They understand good indie bio. They get it.”
Stuckmann’s debut function is an abnormally important test case for genre. Its success (or failure) is a valuable data point for neon and above important horror groups – from Internet obsessives who made “five nights on Freddy’s” a pop culture moment to Eli Roth Defenders who would have difficulty explaining Roths The horror section Banner to Zach Braff. (Yes, the ‘scrubs’ star was Shame for using Kickstarter in public to crowdfund a “Garden State” sequence in 2013. It did not prevent Quentin Tarantinos Protégé Roth from launching its new company and its collection campaign with this Bizarre seller video.)
Fans became excited online when Neon’s summer slate leaked earlier this year, but the previously reported August 22 -edition was never stuck for “Shelby oaks.” Neon has two more large horror titles coming soon. First, Alison Brie and Dave Franco will blend into each other on July 30 with “Together.” (From author/director Michael Shanks, that project is currently facing Accusations of plagiarism and a copyright.) Then Oz Perkins will transform his “Longlegs”/”Monkey” Victory Tour into a Bona-Fide Neon Hat-Trick with “Goalkeeper,” Expected this fall.
In his Kickstarter video from April, Stuckmann attributed the decline in communication to his busy production schedule. Right now the director is running to finally do this The year for “Shelby Oaks” – an occasion that was already declared twice between 2023 and 2024. The film will haunt us theaters on October 3, when IndieWire will review Stuckmann’s function a second pedestrian and the ghost hunting paranormal paranoids will finally answer the question, “Who took Riley Brennan?“For good.
