Shelby Oaks Review: Chris Stuckmann’s Debut Is a Terrifying Ride [Fantasia Fest 2024]

Following an incredibly successful Kickstarter campaign that drew in nearly $1.4 million from backers, YouTube horror critic Chris Stuckmann has delivered the goods with Shelby Oaks. 

Stuckmann’s feature directorial debut (he also co-wrote the film with his wife Sam Liz) is a bold take on the found-footage horror trope packed with surprises that are best experienced with as little information as possible (we’ll keep things spoiler-free here). 

The film opens in faux-documentary mode as we meet Mia (Camille Sullivan), who is dealing with the disappearance of her younger sister Riley (Sarah Durn). Riley, along with three friends, hosted Paranormal Paranoids, a low-budget reality show where the group explored supernatural legends. Sarah disappeared after an eerie episode in a supposedly haunted prison, quickly turning into a local legend herself as “Who took Riley Brennan?” becomes a rallying cry for the show’s dedicated fans. 

The opening minutes of Shelby Oaks are a virtuoso lesson in dread. Stuckmann and his incredible cinematographer Andrew Baird weave segments of shot-on-video footage of the Paranormal Paranoids episodes with Mia’s interview with the documentary crew, expertly building up the mystery at the heart of Riley’s mysterious disappearance.

Well-versed horror audiences will notice the nods to faux horror documentaries like Lake Mungo and The Blair Witch Project, but Stuckmann makes a smart choice early on that flips that convention on his head, allowing him a deeper look at the characters at the heart of the story. 

Camille Sullivan does most of the film’s heavy-lifting as the grief-stricken older sister who refuses to believe that Riley is dead. Sullivan delivers a powerhouse performance that often relies on very intense close-ups of her face, as Mia oscillates between terror and grief while falling deeper down the rabbit hole in search of her sister. 

For all of the film’s surprises that I’m doing my utmost not to spoil here, Shelby Oaks does end up trafficking in a number of basic horror tropes. By the time we get to a montage of Mia researching the supernatural by reading through micro-fiche at the library, Shelby Oaks begins to shed its unsettling tone for more standard horror conventions. There’s a midnight solo visit to a deserted prison with a wonky flashlight battery, and an over-reliance on loud jump scares that can’t hold a candle to the goosebump-inducing promise of the film’s earlier half. 

Shelby Oaks is an incredible assured debut and shows great promise for Stuckmann’s future in the genre he clearly loves so much. With the Mike Flanagan co-sign (Flanagan served as executive producer) and the recent announcement that Neon will distribute the film, Shelby Oaks primed to be the next horror smash when it eventually hits theatres. It’s an audacious and at times genuinely terrifying film, even if those terrors settle into a more descendable pattern as the story begins to fall into place. Like any great puzzle, Shelby Oaks is at its most intriguing when its pieces are still scattered across the table. 

Shelby Oaks screened at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.