Shelby Oaks

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.7/5)

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Chris Stuckmann

Written by: Chris Stuckmann

Produced by: Ashleigh Snead, Cameron Burns

Starring: Camille Sulllivan, Sarah Burn, Charlie Talbert, Robin Bartlett, Michael Beach, Emily Bennett, Keith David, Brenden Sexton III, Derek Mears.

‘It’s not safe here.’  Riley speaks to her camera as the video distorts her face.  Her sister, Mia (Camille Sulllivan) watches.  She hasn’t given up on finding Riley yet.

Riley’s (Sarah Burn) been missing for 12 years.

Shelby Oaks is a collection of found footage, YouTube videos from Riley’s Paranormal Paranoids’, Ghost Hunters’ crew and interviews with police, journalists and Riley’s sister, Mia.

Mia reminisces about their upbringing, their mother carving, ‘R M’ into the trunks of trees so the two sisters would always find their way home.

It all feels a bit low budget, not necessarily in a bad way.  I don’t mind a budget film if the story’s good, I’m thinking to myself as I’m watching the movie.

This is director and writer, Chris Stuckmann’s first feature film.  Chris built on his vastly popular YouTube channel talking all things film, and has successfully funded his debut via Kickstarter, earning an all-time record of 1.4 million dollars.

Chris states, ‘Nine years ago, my wife and I shot a YouTube sketch that has now evolved into a feature film. Over the course of making it, I became a father to twins, and a pandemic shut down the globe. Most filmmakers say that every film they make changes them, and indeed, while making SHELBY OAKS, the axis of my entire world shifted. And I couldn’t be happier.’

There’s this classic found footage-esq feel to Shelby Oaks, until Mia wipes her eyes post interview.

There’s a knock on the door.  A guy puts a gun to his head and pulls the trigger.

Then the film gets cinematic.

It’s clever, the shift from interview to what’s happening behind the scenes.

I was drawn into the story of the film because it felt like a curtain pulled aside to reveal the true story.  And this feeling continues throughout the film.

The device worked well, except for some holes, like the blood left on Mia’s face after the suicide at her front door.  You’d wipe the blood off your face, or your husband would.

Obviously the blood on the face was left for aesthetic effect, and that took away some of the behind-the-curtain charm.

But there’s clever here, with flashes of subconscious – did I actually see that? – moments, and a cracking horror story of the kind I can’t help but get into.

I’m thinking of the Podcast from QCode, Barossa and the soundtrack from Insidious (2010).

The orchestral rises were used well and the performance from Camille Sulllivan as Mia carried most of the emotional tone of the storyline.

There’s a classic creepy setting to Shelby Oaks, with: a dark forest, an old, condemned amusement park and an abandoned jail filled with empty cells, all used to ramp up the suspense.

There were times when I wondered, wow, is this film going to go there?  Is it going to crack that extra layer of scary?

Shelby Oaks didn’t quite get there; I had questions about Mia’s justification of investigating Riley’s disappearance without the help of police, but the classic vibe that I love in a horror combined with edgy twists and surprising shifts in tone, add up to a Halloween entertainer that’s worth a watch.