SHELBY OAKS

*CUT TO THE CHASE*

NOTE: This spoiler was submitted by Jeremy

The film opens with footage from 2008. A young woman named Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn) is seen addressing her camera, fearing that someone is in her cabin. Screams can be heard from downstairs. Riley opens the door to check. She leaves the room, and onscreen text states this was the last time Riley was seen alive, as the sound of howling or barking is heard.

Riley and her friends – Peter Bailey (Anthony Baldasere), Laura Tucker (Caisey Cole), and David Reynolds (Eric Francis Melaragni) – were YouTubers and creators of the ghost-hunting series “Paranormal Paranoids”. They built up a popular fanbase of other conspiracy theorists and the like. On their last known trip, the four were investigating an abandoned prison in the town of Shelby Oaks. Soon, the four went missing. After an extensive search party, the bodies of Peter, Laura, and David were discovered brutally murdered, but Riley remained missing. A bloody symbol, along with the name “Tarion”, was painted on the outside of the house where the bodies were found.

Twelve years later, Riley’s older sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) is working with a crew on a documentary regarding Riley’s disappearance. She wants viewers to get to know the real Riley. Footage is shown of the sisters as children with their mother. Mia explains how Riley had night terrors and often complained about a figure watching her from outside her window, even though she was on the second floor. All they could find was a crack in the window. After age 13, Riley seemed to grow out of it. Mia is also married to Robert Walker (Brendan Sexton III), although their relationship has been on the rocks after attempts to conceive a child have failed, as well as Mia’s obsession with getting Riley back after the other three’s bodies were discovered. Mia also notes that in Riley’s last video, she believes she saw her sister saying “he’s back”.

Someone knocks at Mia’s door. It is a distressed man named Wilson Miles (Charlie Talbert). He simply tells Mia “She finally let me go” before shooting himself in the head. Authorities come to get rid of Wilson’s body. In his hand is a small tape labeled “Shelby Oaks”, which Mia takes for herself.

Later at night, Mia watches the video, which contains the last documented footage of the Paranormals. The footage shows them outside the abandoned prison, as well as a rundown amusement park that the sisters used to visit, but Riley is starting to look more and more uncomfortable as the video goes on, and she wants to leave the town immediately. Mia watches later in the video which shows the group being stalked in their home. She sees gruesome images of David getting his face ripped off before the assailant, revealed to be Wilson, goes after Riley before showing his face on camera. When the video turns off, a figure with glowing eyes can be seen in the window. Mia runs outside to look, but nobody is there. The window starts to crack like it did for Riley. Mia also thinks she sees some kind of hellhound outside her house.

Mia does some investigating and learns from a detective about Wilson’s identity and how he used to be an inmate at the prison that the Paranormals were looking into. Mia meets with the prison’s former warden, Morton Jacobson (Keith David), who describes how a riot broke out after Wilson’s incarceration. A computer error caused all the cells in one block to be open. In the middle of the chaos, Wilson was stated to just be staring out his window, seemingly oblivious to what was happening outside.

Mia starts to do research into the occult, incubi, and hellhounds. She becomes convinced that Riley was the victim of a demonic ritual involving whatever Tarion is. Robert becomes fed up with how Mia is handling the situation, so he leaves her.

Mia travels to Shelby Oaks and inspects the prison. She finds Wilson’s old cell and looks out his window, which happens to be overlooking where the amusement park used to be. After a quiet search, Mia is spotted and chased by a hellhound. Mia runs toward the amusement park for safety, but she is encountered by another hellhound. She then runs toward an old farmhouse and is welcomed inside by the owner, a woman named Norma (Robin Bartlett).

Although Norma seems friendly at first, Mia discovers the dark truth about her. Norma was Wilson’s mother, and sure enough, they have kept Riley captive in their basement for over a decade. A look at some pictures in Norma’s photo album shows that Riley had been raped repeatedly and is implied to have suffered several miscarriages before giving birth to a healthy baby boy. Norma is a follower of Tarion, who is an incubus demon and the creature that Riley had seen outside her window as a child. She had also been seeing him again upon returning to Shelby Oaks. Mia secretly texts Robert her location to send the police. Mia frees Riley when going to the basement, but Riley grabs a fire poker and goes to try and finish off Norma. Mia runs upstairs and sees Riley knocked out, and Norma performs a blood ritual over the baby. Norma eventually dies before the police arrive.

Mia, Riley and the baby are taken to the hospital. They are discharged and sent home. Mia talks to one of the crew members at the end, who asks how Mia could explain the way she found where Riley was held captive. She says she thinks something wanted her to find it.

Upstairs, Mia finds Riley getting ready to smother the baby. Mia tries to talk her down, but Riley says “it has to die”. The sisters fight over the pillow until the bedroom window starts cracking, and Riley is flung out of it. Though she manages to survive the fall, Riley is unable to move and can only watch helplessly as three hellhounds rush to rip her apart and devour her. Mia screams as she watches her sister die, and Tarion appears behind her. Mia’s voice can be heard saying she thinks that this was all part of Tarion’s plan since they were children (for one sister to birth his child and for the other to raise it). Tarion places his hand upon Mia’s shoulder, her eyes glow and she screams in horror.

In 2008, the hosts of a ghost-hunting YouTube show, "Paranormal Paranoids", were reported missing after investigating an abandoned prison in the town of Shelby Oaks. Peter Bailey, Laura Tucker, and David Reynolds are brutally murdered, while lead host Riley Brennan has been missing for 12 years. Her older sister Mia has been interviewed for a documentary about Riley, and is later met at her door by a frightened man that shoots himself in the head and holds a tape labeled "Shelby Oaks" in his hand. The tape contains the final moments of the YouTubers.

The man was Wilson Miles, a former prisoner at the facility that the hosts were looking into. Mia travels to Shelby Oaks as her obsession with finding Riley takes over her life, even getting her husband Robert to leave her. In Shelby Oaks, Mia is followed by bloodhounds, but she later meets a woman named Norma. She turns out to be Wilson's mother, and she is the one keeping Riley as a prisoner. Wilson had repeatedly raped Riley until she birthed a healthy baby boy. Norma is a follower of the incubus demon Tarion, a figure from the girls' childhood that haunted Riley until she was 13. Mia frees Riley, who kills Norma, but she manages to perform a ritual with Riley's blood over the baby before dying.

Mia brings Riley and the baby home. Riley tries to smother the baby, but in a struggle with Mia, she falls out the window and is devoured by hellhounds. Mia realizes she has been part of Tarion's plan, for one sister to birth his child and the other to raise it. He appears behind Mia and terrifies her.