Ticketworthy! - Shelby Oaks

If craftsmanship and dedication were enough to make a movie great, movie critic and YouTuber Chris Stuckmann’s directorial debut, Shelby Oaks, would be doing pretty well. It’s clearly not another corporate, big-budget horror movie that’s afraid to take chances and be different. As someone who, admittedly, has followed and respected Stuckmann’s work for years, I’d really like to say that’s good enough. It just...isn’t.

The film starts as a documentary about a paranormal investigator, Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn), who went missing twelve years ago in the abandoned town of Shelby Oaks. Her sister, Mia (Camille Sullivan), discovers another tape with clues to Riley’s disappearance after the film crew leaves. She heads to the last place Riley was seen alive, hoping to find her sister. All the while, a strange, demonic entity haunts Mia, just as it haunted Riley before her.

Without a doubt, the best part of Shelby Oaks is the documentary aspect. The first twenty or so minutes of the movie suck you in completely. Found footage horror films are a mixed bag in terms of quality, but this one seems to get it right. Which makes it confusing when the movie abandons that style and switches to a more traditional style. It’s a strange, jarring shift that does nothing but make the movie more generic.

Not that the cinematography is bad. There are plenty of creative shots and well-framed moments. The film looks just unpolished enough to have an “indie” feel without being poorly made. Stuckmann also uses the camera effectively to create atmosphere and scares. I love it when a horror movie puts something unsettling in the background of a shot, just barely noticeable enough that your brain knows something isn’t right. Shelby Oaks does that several times, and it’s almost always executed well.

The acting works, though the movie demands very little. There’s not really much to the character of Mia. She wants her sister back and that’s about it. Still, Sullivan does an admirable job with what she’s given. Which is fortunate, because she’s basically the only major role in the film. Others come and go, but Mia is the crux of the whole story. It’s good that her actress is up to the task.

The same cannot be said for the script, which is where Shelby Oaks falls apart. The pacing is a mess, some scenes that don’t matter go on for far too long while others that do have to be rushed as a result. Most of the dialogue is bland, transitions from location to location feel forced, and the ending is honestly just silly. Stuckmann is a good director for this kind of material, but this script will almost certainly not be his finest work.

Despite wanting to enjoy Shelby Oaks, it just has too many flaws for me to recommend it. There haven’t been many missteps in the horror genre this year, but this certainly feels like one. There’s enough in it to make me curious about Stuckmann’s next project, but on its own this footage might have been better un-found.