Shelby Oaks (dir. Chris Stuckmann)
By: Dave Hughes
Chris Stuckmann established himself in the early days of YouTube as one of the platform’s foremost film critics with an affinity for horror, building an audience around his clear passion for the genre. Now, Stuckmann turns that affinity into his directorial debut, Shelby Oaks, a project funded successfully through the support of fellow filmmakers and fans. While the film is clearly a work for horror fans by a horror fan, it ultimately doesn't stick the landing, delivering a debut that experiences some significant narrative bumps.
Shelby Oaks is a found footage production that is rooted in mystery. Stuckmann wants the audience to go into this film knowing as little as possible. The trailers and posters do not reveal much outside the creepy visuals and carefully selected quotes. As the film begins, Riley Brennan is shown on video at her last time seen alive. Riley is a member of a paranormal investigative team working a case that is shown in the footage. Since her disappearance, her sister, Mia, is interviewed for a documentary insisting that Riley is still alive. From there, Mia begins to try and determine where Riley is and what she can do to save her.
The mystery around Shelby Oaks is perhaps its greatest strength. Stuckmann relies on the enigma to get the audience invested and care about the events taking place. At the beginning, the premise is incredibly effective in getting the film off the ground. However, as events go on and the puzzle begins to take shape, viewers are left ultimately disappointed in the shallow reveal. Stuckmann includes so many moving parts to this mystery that it feels like an incoherent homage to films that came before, like the complex family trauma of Hereditary (2018) and the unsettling town mythology of Silent Hill (2006). The film never successfully synthesizes these elements, resulting in a narrative that feels cluttered rather than cleverly layered.
Jump scares come frequently and often in Shelby Oaks. Stuckmann uses framing and sound design to keep the audience guessing about what’s around each turn. There is a lot of uncertainty, specifically in the first half of the film, as to what is lurking beyond the camera or just out of the viewers' perspective. Shadow figures lurk in the background and the audience never really feels comfortable. It’s incredibly effective and jarring when those jump scares appear. Stuckmann successfully exploits the limitations of the found footage frame, maximizing the tension created by the unseen and using negative space to generate a genuine, visceral jolt.
Found footage is a term that makes some horror fans nauseous and other fans jump for joy. Stuckmann’s use of found footage is an approach that may divide some on this aspect. Stuckmann’s film is about 50% found footage and the other 50% is a mix of filmmaking and interviews. Switching between narratives halfway through the film oftentimes takes the audience out of the story. In a genre that relies on unfiltered immersion like horror, this hybrid structure acts as a constant reminder that the film is a constructed product. Stuckmann’s choice to flip the formats partially through the film is a perplexing one in that it ruins the sense of believability and investment in the narrative.
Target Score 4/10: Shelby Oaks is a huge creative swing for Chris Stuckmann. There’s a lot of promise here for what’s to come in his future films but the convoluted narrative specifically in the film’s third act becomes too much to overlook.