PopHorror Let's Get Scared
In Shelby Oaks, NEON’s chilling new horror thriller, actress Sarah Durn (Carry-On 2024) delivers a breakout performance that’s equal parts haunting and heartfelt. As Riley Brennan — the bright, fearless host of a once-thriving paranormal YouTube channel — Durn anchors the story’s emotional core, balancing warmth and curiosity against a creeping sense of dread. What begins as a supernatural mystery unfolds into something far deeper: a story of sisterhood, obsession and the lengths we go to for the people we love.
Before Shelby Oaks hit theaters on Oct. 24, the film had already generated buzz on the festival circuit following its premieres at Fantasia and FrightFest, where audiences praised its unnerving atmosphere and Durn’s captivating performance. Her portrayal of Riley moves seamlessly between found footage realism and psychological suspense, grounding the film’s eerie energy in something strikingly human as her sister Mia (Camille Sullivan, Hunter Hunter 2020) embarks on a terrifying quest to find her after she goes missing.
PopHorror caught up with Durn to discuss her connection to the hopeful yet haunted Riley, the improvisational freedom of shooting found footage, and how her experiences on sets like Renfield and We Have a Ghost helped shape her first leading role.
PopHorror: What first drew you to the character of Riley Brennan and the story of Shelby Oaks as a whole?
Sarah Durn: I see a lot of myself in Riley. What really drew me to her is she’s so hopeful. She’s really strong, even in the face of a lot of darkness, and she’s really brave when, unfortunately, things kind of go haywire for her. It feels like that hope, it has to contend with the darkness and that’s certainly been something I’ve faced in life, where you have to fight to remain hopeful in dark times. That’s something she really does as a character.
In terms of what drew me to the project, I was really excited to work with [director] Chris [Stuckmann] when I signed on to the project five years ago, which is insane. I was just really excited about the opportunity to play. We did a lot of improv on set, especially in the found footage part of the filming process. That was just so fun. There was a moment in callbacks where Chris said that my performance felt like lightning in a bottle, which is so nice to hear from a director. He also seemed genuinely interested in who I was as a person beyond just my work as an actor, which isn’t always something you get. So from Chris to Paper Street Pictures, who was involved from the get go, everyone was really excited, warm, interesting and cool people to hang out with.
PopHorror: You mentioned that you signed on to the project five years ago. When did you actually film everything? Has it been ongoing all these years?
Sarah Durn: I was brought on in 2020, pandemic times. Initially, we were just shooting found footage material and it was a little unclear if that material was just going to be used for a Kickstarter campaign or if it was going to actually be in the final film. But it is stuff that ended up in the final film. It was just me, Chris and the other Paranormal Paranoids stomping around in the woods, which was wild and fun. Then I came back for principal photography about a year and a half later. Then we had to reshoot a couple times. So it’s been a process and the movie has grown a lot. The initial cut of the film has shifted to what’s going to be in theaters, which is exciting.
PopHorror: Much of this film is in a found footage format. What was it like filming those scenes? Was there a different approach to it? Any special challenges that came with it?
Sarah Durn: Big shout out to Eric [Francis Melaragni, Trick or Treat! 2021], he was one of the Paranormal Paranoids, this YouTube Scooby-Doo gang. He actually, during a lot of the found footage parts of the film, was filming on this old school camera. And, like I said, it was a lot of improv and at that point, it was both material to get people excited and also stuff to end up in the final film. It was very DIY initially. It was literally just Chris and us a lot of times. To think about what this film has turned into is just so wild. But yeah, shooting the found footage stuff was really exciting. Chris was really encouraging of me to just play. We ended up shooting more things, like different things just in my bedroom. I was like, “This could be something you throw in.” We were just playing and throwing anything at the wall. It was a really collaborative process.
PopHorror: I’d love to talk a bit more about Riley. She starts as this warm, curious leader and then has to deal with much darker forces as the story unfolds. How did you balance those two sides of her?
Sarah Durn: When it comes to balancing those two sides of Riley, it’s something I do relate to. I’ve always been somebody who’s really into horror movies. I actually grew up in Ohio, where we shot the film, and I had a map of haunted Ohio. It was all these sites of haunted old penitentiaries and stuff. When people meet me, I’m very bubbly and happy, and I’m blonde. I can feel very girl next door. But then I’ve always been really into the dark side of things. In high school, my friends and I watched the Saw movies and snuck into R-rated horror movies before we were allowed. So yeah, that kind of duality is something I just really related to.
And there’s a lot of layers to Riley because she does present as this warm, curious leader, and she’s the host of this paranormal YouTube show. She’s really friendly and bubbly and the voice that’s bringing viewers into the story for their YouTube channel. But clearly she’s somebody interested in the darker side of humanity, somebody who’s interested in the paranormal. That sort of war between those two sides of Riley is something that you see throughout the film.
PopHorror: The film deals with some heavy themes, like loss and obsession, all within that horror framework. Is there anything you hope audiences connect with most about the journey of Riley and her sister?
Sarah Durn: The film, for me, is really a story about siblings and the strength of those kind of bonds. The film follows my older sister Mia as she’s hunting and looking for my character Riley. So just having that sibling connection, I understand so much the power of those bonds. There’s no relationship quite like it, especially when you’re talking about sisters. For Riley, Mia is really somebody who she looks up to and relies on. She’s sort of like a second mom to her.
To answer your question of how I approached those deeper themes in the story, I definitely pulled from my own experience in my own relationships when building what the relationship between Mia and Riley looks like. And regarding the heavy themes that are present in the film, there’s a lot around motherhood, loss and certainly obsession. But for me, the biggest theme that shapes Riley’s character is that bond between sisters.
PopHorror: The film premiered at Fantasia and also screened at FrightFest, both big festivals. What was it like seeing those early reactions from people?
Sarah Durn: Fantasia was last summer in Montreal. I didn’t go to FrightFest, but Fantasia was such a wild experience. I went with my boyfriend and I had no idea what to expect. I knew we were on the Saturday night spot and I figured that maybe people were excited, but I had no idea what was in store. There was a line around the block of people trying to get into this theater, which was massive, like at least 400 people. The crowd was so amazing and they reacted to all the points that we were hoping they would, which was so exciting. And it was my first time seeing the film, so it was also really nerve wracking because I was like, “I hope I don’t hate my performance.” But it was such a good vibe. There were people, as I was walking into the theater on this little red carpet for a photo op, with my headshot asking for my signature. I was like, “What is happening?” It was bizarre but very fun.
PopHorror: What was it like seeing the finished film? Where there any scenes that came out even better than expected?
Sarah Durn: I’ve gotten pretty close to Chris and the team throughout this process and I had seen very little bits of it in ADR, where you go back and rerecord sound or dialogue that didn’t quite get recorded on set. Without giving anything away, there’s one moment specifically toward the beginning of the film that is a bit like the rug is taken out from under the audience. They think they’re in store for one kind of movie and then it sort of shifts. Seeing their reaction to that was so fun and it just landed so well. I wasn’t sure how it would work. I read it in the script, but I didn’t really understand what it would look like in a movie theater. And so that moment especially, the crowd freaked out and it landed super well. People were really excited by that moment and that was so fun.
PopHorror: I’d love to talk a bit about your other projects. You’ve been in some really cool things like Renfield with Nicolas Cage (Longlegs 2024) and We Have a Ghost with David Harbour (Stranger Things 2016). What, if anything, did you take from those experiences that helped you prepare for this breakout starring performance in Shelby Oaks?
Sarah Durn: I’ve been really lucky to work on some big movie sets for some big horror films. It’s just always the most fascinating place to be. You’re on night shoots, there’s so many people around. There’s like hundreds of crew. Everyone is busy doing whatever job it is they have to do. Just being a fly on the wall in that environment, you end up learning so much. Especially getting to see Nicholas Hoult (Nosferatu 2024) work, who is one of my favorite, favorite actors, was so cool.
It was also helpful to watch people who are ahead of me in their career not be afraid to ask the director for another take or have a collaborative experience with the director. It can be intimidating because there’s so many people and time crunches. But seeing the relationship that can form between actors and directors really helped inform how I approached interacting with Chris in a lead role like in this film. I realized that I’m a creative in the room as well, I’m not here to just deliver on Chris’ vision. It’s a collaborative process and coming together to create something that maybe isn’t quite what Chris imagined. It’s a melding of his words and world and my acting, body and voice. When those two things come together, it can be so fun. Seeing that play out on Renfield and We Have a Ghost helped inform how I approach Shelby Oaks.
PopHorror: Do you have any examples of that collaboration between you and Chris?
Sarah Durn: The thing that comes to mind is when we were doing the found footage part. It’s a little snippet at the front of the trailer where it was filming just me in this room. That was such a fun night. It was literally just me, Chris and Aaron Koontz, who is one of the producers on the project from Paper Street. We were doing this very important scene in the film, it’s one of the scenes I actually auditioned with. Chris is such a collaborative and encouraging director and I wanted to do 1 million takes. He let me do not a million, but more than probably many directors would just because I was like, “It’s such an important moment, I want to get it right.” He was like, “You’re doing amazing, this is great!” And I was like, “Okay, but can we go again?” It was really sweet. It wasn’t that we had different visions, but it was more he allowed me to explore different approaches to an important scene.
PopHorror: Looking ahead, is there any type of project you haven’t done that you’d love to tackle someday? And is there anything in the works that you’re able to share?
Sarah Durn: I do have some exciting things on the horizon that I can’t quite share yet. But in terms of dream projects that I’d love to work on, I have done some period pieces, but I would love to do more. I love The Witch and Game of Thrones. I think it’s so magical when a film can put you in a different time and place to what many of our day-to-day lives look like. That’s such a powerful thing that film can do. I would love to be in some sort of fantasy or historical period piece. It would be very fun.
PopHorror: I have to ask, what’s your favorite scary movie?
Sarah Durn: Scream is one of my all time favorites. It’s so hard to choose one. Halloween, the original films are just iconic. Those are the two that come to mind. I do love the oldies before they became franchises that have gone on for however many films. It’s wild and so amazing to look at the first iterations of those films and how tight they were story wise. There’s a reason those keep getting remade.
PopHorror: Is there anything else you’d like Shelby Oaks audiences to know?
Sarah Durn: I just hope people get excited to go see it. It’ll be in theaters for the Halloween season. This was an indie project that has taken off, and that’s so wonderful and vital when people support these kinds of movies by going to the theater. It allows debut films from new directors and new filmmakers and new actors like myself to have the chance. So thank you to everyone who’s considering going to see it.
Thanks for speaking with us, Sarah! Shelby Oaks is playing in theaters now.
Feature photo by Ansh Vohra.
