Shelby Oaks

I don't care for Chris Stuckman's YouTube presence or for most of those influencer folks because rarely do they set their subjective bias aside when talking about movies, but I was immediately intrigued by his feature film debut because Mike Flanagan is an EP and the indie circuit buzz was exciting. Having finally seen it, it's not an impressive film.

The first half is thoroughly captivating as we're pulled into a bizarre mystery that defies reason, but the second half is just a hodgepodge of horror cliches and missteps. It's worth a look for hardcore horror fans, but otherwise, Shelby Oaks isn't a must-see in any regard.

I've been following Chris Stuckmann on YouTube ever since I saw his explanation video of 'Enemy' over ten years ago. I haven't watched his channel in a few years since he decided to change things up, but I've followed the progress of 'Shelby Oaks' since its inception back in 2021. I finally got to see it today and it was - quite a letdown, I'm sad to say.

Back in 2014 Stuckmann did a video titled 'The Problem with Horror Movies Today' and a large segment of that video was explaining why jump scares are so terrible and such a cheap gimmick. A direct quote from that video was, "The jump scare is the cheapest tactic used in horror films today." I tend to agree. So I had really hoped that Stuckmann would make a point of avoiding them all together in his debut film. Sadly, he did not. There aren't too many of them but they are in there and they are not well done. He even uses one during a piece of found footage, which is a major no-no.

The film is terribly clunky. It starts as a mockumentary and then suddenly it's not. The story has no focus and darts all over the place with terrible (CGI? - they looked CGI at least) dogs guiding the film. And the ending sequence was bizarre and didn't work for me at all. It felt like he was trying to cram ten films into one.

It's low budget so the acting is very dodgy in a lot of cases. Thankfully the lead actress Camille Sullivan is decent. She does her best to carry the film and keep it watchable.

This one didn't work though. It's never scary or interesting. The mystery doesn't captivate and there are a lot of choices that are quite cringe inducing. It's a debut film so there's plenty of time for him to learn and grow is the good news. 3/10.

Dark forest? Check.

Baby in danger? Check.

News footage? Check. VHS analog quality footage? Check.

Abandoned building? Attic scene? Check. Check.

Sidenote: what is with all these modern movies that have the "cable TV" "American Horror Story/Walking Dead"-esque title sequences? So offputting and unnecessary.

A film made to be watched at home. Many dark moments that allowed for the theater guide lighting to wash out the screen. Slow start that take found footage and then turns into a mystery movie only to end with a boring twist and unsatisfying ending. The only real thing that could save this movie is if the home video sleuths are able to frame by frame hidden clues throughout the film otherwise, don't waste your time. C horror film.

This review is following a screening from Fantasia Festival and I realize that this is a first feature film and Chris seems like a nice guy but this was amateur hour.

I'll start with the positives, the cinematography was excellent and the lead actress was for the most part pretty credible. This film also had a promising prologue, although mostly riffing on Blair witch projects premise. Finally Keith David classed the joint up in a small role.

On the negative side, the relationship with the husband and lead was beyond poorly written, with a poorly acted argument sticking out in my memory. I was stunned when I was advised the husband is a working actor with many credits to his name.

The worst sin is that it's a horror film that just isn't scary, relying on cheap jumpscares and poor cgi dogs. The third act and ending also leave much to be desired where the audience was audibly laughing at what I would think were serious moments. The abysmal ending left me ambivalent rather than shocked as I imagine Chris intended. The biggest ruse is that this has been picked up for distribution, I can't see an average audience unfamiliar with Chris' YouTube career connecting with this film.