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.

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.

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.

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.