As long as there have been VHS tapes, there have been creepy VHS tapes in movies – most notably, the cursed video in Ring (or, Gore Verbinski’s The
As long as there have been VHS tapes, there have been creepy VHS tapes in movies – most notably, the cursed video in Ring (or, Gore Verbinski’s The Ring). And it’s a pesky reel that seems to kick off the events of Shelby Oaks, an incoming horror from YouTuber-turned-filmmaker Chris Stuckmann, that comes with some impressive backing – it’s been picked up by NEON (who, between the recent spate of Osgood Perkins films, body horror Together, and creature feature Cuckoo are going all-in on buzzy horror at the moment), and boasts a producer in the great Mike Flanagan. Check out the spooky teaser.
Eerie stuff! This one looks a little Blair Witch, a little Silent Hill, a little Ringu – with Camille Sullivan’s Mia encountering a bloody tragedy, a creepy tape, and venturing to the mysterious ‘Shelby Oaks’ in search of her sister Riley. By the looks of things, her search doesn’t end in sunshine and rainbows. Stuckmann writes and directs this one in his feature debut, and the film has had positive reactions out of its early festival screenings. On score duties at The Newton Brothers, who notably tend to provide the music for much of Flanagan’s work.
It’s been a banner year for horror so far (Sinners! 28 Years Later! Bring Her Back!), so stay tuned to see if Shelby Oaks deserves mention in the same breath as all those. The film hits US cinemas on 3 October, and currently doesn’t seem to have a UK release date – fingers crossed it finds a home in time for Halloween.
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