Throughout the history of horror, there have been a handful of filmmakers who have defined the genre. The ’60s had Alfred Hitchcock. The ’80s had Wes Craven. And in the modern era, Mike Flanagan. Ever since his directorial debut, Absentia, in 2011, Flanagan has been solidifying his status as a master of horror with a string of standout titles ranging from his Flanaverse on Netflix to movies like Oculus and Hush, and fans of the filmmaker can now stream his 2025 horror hit on Hulu.
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Shelby Oaks is officially scaring up a new audience after it finally made its streaming debut on Hulu on April 17th. The supernatural horror mystery, which blends found footage and traditional narrative, was written and directed by YouTube critic Chris Stuckmann and executive produced by Flanagan. It centers around Mia, who obsessively searches for her sister, Riley, a vlogger who vanished alongside her ghost-hunting team in an abandoned town of Shelby Oaks. The movie smashed records before it ever hit the screen, breaking the record for the highest-funded horror film project in Kickstarter history, and while it was far from a blockbuster, its 8 million worldwide gross against a $2.8 million production budget was a pretty solid success for a crowdfunded, independent film.
Is Shelby Oaks Based on a True Story?
Like most found footage films, Shelby Oaks is pure fiction, but the movie is deeply embedded with Stuckmann’s personal experiences. Stuckmann was inspired to craft the movie by his experience growing up in the Jehovah’s Witness faith and the emotional trauma of being separated from his sister, who was disfellowshipped and shunned and whom he didn’t see for 10 years, he told Points of Reviews. The movie mirrors Stuckmann’s experience and uses horror to process deep personal pain through a story about a woman’s relentless search for her lost sister that explores childhood trauma, faith, and the pain of forced separation.
The overall reception to the movie was pretty mixed, though. Shelby Oaks scored a 55% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 53% audience rating. While the movie earned some flak for falling into generic horror tropes and struggling to transition from its documentary-style found footage opening into a traditional horror movie, it was generally seen as a pretty strong directorial debut for Stuckmann. Shelby Oaks is a genuinely creepy film, featuring pretty deep mythology that blends different horror subgenres and effectively creates a genuinely unsettling feel through its dark, gloomy aesthetic and score. And if you’re the type of fan who likes a lot of gore in horror, Shelby Oaks doesn’t disappoint, the movie featuring high levels of violence and practical gore effects.
What’s New on Hulu?
Hulu’s April lineup has already added dozens of great titles to the streaming library. Shelby Oaks joined the platform on the heels of other arrivals like The Day After Tomorrow, Napoleon Dynamite, Primitive War, and the complete The Hunger Games franchise. Hulu has a few more additions to make this month, including fellow 2025 horror movie Good Boy on April 25th.
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