Shelby Oaks

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.

High hopes dashes away midway through film. It started off with a uniquely fresh approach to telling the story, but fell into the cliche of brave person falling in the trappings of a common horror movie. There's a lot of scenes that made no sense that the only conclusion is exactly how most horror films with a supernatural villain ends. The protagonist's conviction after 12 years has finally waned when presented a means to her true desire - succumbs to temptation. A solid 7 for the unique, ala dateline NBC news segment style film intro. 7 for the good actors. An awful 1 score for the predictable ending which diluted the effectiveness of the scare score of 3. See it if you dare sit through another frustratingly cliche horror film.

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.

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.

Stumbling upon 2024 horror movie "Shelby Oaks" here in 2025, and not knowing what I was in for, aside from it being a horror movie, of course I opted to watch it. I am, after all, a big fan of all things horror.

The movie was off to a rocky start, as it had every alarm bell going off with it coming off as a found-garbage type of movie. And I absolutely loathe that subgenre of horror, but thankfully it was just during the introduction part that the movie was set up as a found-garbage type of movie. Thankfully director Chris Stuckmann opted to turn it into a properly filmed movie, which lifted the movie up to a stage where the found-garbage genre can't get to.

The storyline was actually not bad, once you get past the found-garbage intro. So writers Sam Liz and Chris Stuckmann actually managed to pull off something nice enough here. And I have to admit that I was adequately entertained throughout the course of the movie.

I was rather surprised to see a bunch of familiar faces on the cast list, in smaller roles mostly, but still. The movie has the likes of Michael Beach, Brendan Sexton III, Derek Mears and Keith David on the cast list. The acting performances in the movie were good.

The special effects in the movie were good, and helped make it all the more watchable and easy to sit through.

While "Shelby Oaks" is a watchable movie, it is hardly a genre-defining moment in the horror genre. Nor is it a particularly outstanding or memorable horror movie, but it was enjoyable enough for what it was, though I doubt it is a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Chris Stuckmann's 2024 movie "Shelby Oaks" lands on a five out of ten stars.