Shelby Oaks (2024)

Anyone who is prepared to go from critic to film maker deserves praise for putting their money where their mouth is and Chris Stuckmann goes from YouTube film critic to movie maker. He might have gone off the boil quality wise but not wanting to give negative reviews equating it to bashing a film maker, but I am prepared to be honest cause that is what people who review films do. Negative reviews can be constructive. Not sure if my negative comments are constructive but I don't mean them to knock Chris Stuckmann but they are just my honest opinion. The set up of the film is that we follow Mia as she attempts to find her sister who disappeared whilst filming some paranormal YouTube show having disappeared in 2008.

The performances were surpassingly good. Camille Sullivan plays Mia who drives the story forward and there is a determination in Mia to find her sister when it's clear that the police have pretty much given up. There is a likeable vibe coming from Sullivan’s performance even though the story doesn't quite allow her to show what she can do. Keith David pops up for an easy payday. He is in it for less than five minutes but sits in a chair to deliver exposition. 

The film suffers from pacing issues and also from the fact that the film doesn't seem to know what sort of horror film it wants to be. There are musical cues which make it feel like a big bombastic and there are jump scares which feel a little bit lazy. I dont mind jump scares but they have to be earnt and it felt like they were being thrown in there just to make something happen.

There are things to like about the film. The film does a good job of setting things up. The film seems to suggest that it's a found footage film but there isn’t very much beyond the opening part of the film. I do think that this film might have worked better as a found footage film so there is something commendable to try and tell the story in a different and less obvious way. There are some shots that are rather well done. The scenes inside the prison are well done and I also liked the portion of the film that takes place in the crazy woman’s house. It was clear from the very beginning that something wasn't quite right about her and there was a nice amount of atmosphere and tension although it was briefly undermined by the floating nonsense. The twist at the very end that the evil force was after Mia and not Riley was quite well done and some people might have seen it coming but I didn’t so that was well done. 

As a first attempt I think that this is a solid effort. Hopefully it does well enough for Stuckmann to get another crack at the genre. I get the feeling that most people will probably wait for this to come onto streaming which is probably where most people will enjoy it because it is better than most stuff you would find on Tubi or Shudder. Decent first effort.