Shelby Oaks follows the events surrounding the disappearance of Riley Brennan, and her sister Mia’s search to find her. Riley, along with four of her friends, ran a YouTube channel called the Paranormal Paranoids, where they visited and provided a ghost-hunting style exploration of many famous haunted sites. All until their final video, where they visited a town in Darke County, OH called Shelby Oaks. Though the bodies of her four friends were found mutilated, Riley remained missing.
This movie is heavily inspired by both indie horror and heavyweights alike, with clear inspiration from Lake Mungo, The Blair Witch Project and Hereditary. It doesn’t feel derivative though, and it was refreshing to see the way it set itself apart early as a unique work. This is director Chris Stuckmann’s first feature film, but he has some help from producer and horror icon Mike Flanagan. While Flanagan’s fingerprints are all over this movie, the voice and tone remain Stuckmann’s, and I’m very excited to see where his future films go based on this one.
Shelby Oaks is a movie that makes you wait. The shots are gorgeous, and I think Stuckmann’s instinct to leave the viewers sitting in a moment of tension or unknown is the most effective aspect. Unlike Flanagan’s works, this movie isn’t overly verbose. Almost all of the important information is shown to you, but the characters don’t repeat much and the overall pacing doesn’t linger. It moves at a pace that makes you feel like these are real people, and you’re watching them operate day to day in this awful reality. It’s all killer, no filler though, and I found myself impressed at just how well each scene works on its own and when compared to the full work.
While Shelby Oaks has a couple of larger names (such as Keith David and Michael Beach), Camille Sullivan is the star of this film, and I found her to be an incredible surprise in just how well she carries the film without ever overdoing it. Most compelling though are the scenes with Sarah Durn, who plays missing sister Riley Brennan. Every scene she’s on screen is electric, and I see her as having a very bright future in the realm of horror.
I purposely am leaving out any story discussion, because I think it’s a great story to experience blind. Going in, I knew almost nothing about the plot and I’d only heard of Stuckmann as a reviewer on YouTube. The story is a lot of fun, and sticks the landing in the way a lot of horror doesn’t.
Reviews around this movie have been largely mixed, and while I agree that there are some issues, the negativity is largely overblown. There are a few scenes that don’t work (particularly with the dogs), but for me, they didn’t take away from the overall film. The setting is creepy as hell and the very few well-timed jump scares are very effective. It’s a very solid first film from a director who put a lot of thought and care into the artistic vision of his project.
My short take is to absolutely go see it. It’s important to support low-budget movies with original IP, and Shelby Oaks is one that’s incredibly watchable. I’m even considering going again this week and bringing some friends, and I think you should too.
