Shelby Oaks: The long-awaited Chris Stuckman horror film debut

Jake Semmel ‘27 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Over the past few years, we have seen a rise in YouTubers transitioning into filmmaking, the latest example being Chris Stuckman, a YouTube film reviewer with over 2 million subscribers. Stuckman has covered various movies over the years and has long talked about his love for horror. Now, he is throwing his hat into the ring with Shelby Oaks, written by Stuckman and his wife, Sam Liz, and executive produced by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and this year’s The Life of Chuck). The film stars Sarah Durn as Ashley Brennan, a woman searching for her sister Riley, a paranormal investigator who went missing in the town of Shelby Oaks. The film has already broken a record before hitting major screens by being the most successful Kickstarter campaign for a horror feature ever. Stuckman even dedicated the names of his 14,720 backers in the background of a spooky black-and-white photo of the missing Riley Brennan.

In addition to the challenge of igniting a new, genre-bending twist on found-footage horror movies, Shelby Oaks has a lot riding on it for Stuckman as a critic turned filmmaker; you’d hope he’d have what it takes to rival some of the greats he has talked about on his YouTube channel. The film begins with the filming of a faux documentary, in which Ashley discusses her sister Riley and her friends’ disappearances in the supposedly haunted town of Shelby Oaks. However, after all three of Riley’s friends turn up dead in brutal, gory fashion, we see how the police case was handled from the point of view of Detective Burke and the statewide search for Riley. The documentary touches upon a sinister supernatural force that Riley saw as a child and how she became involved in ghost hunting soon after.

We then see, through a found videotape, Riley’s last recorded moments and a supposed demonic presence outside her window. The film then switches from a documentary style to a more intimate look at Ashley Brennan and her life with her husband until a knock on the door comes from a man with an ominous warning. The man suddenly shoots himself in the head, and in his hand is a videotape labeled Shelby Oaks. This moment, around the 20-minute mark of the movie, is a really strong hook. However, it may just be the best part of the film, as it begins to feel derivative of better horror movies from the past.

The rest of the film focuses on Ashley’s search for her sister. There are some genuinely tense and creepy moments, and some of the early scenes are very well done, yet the narrative feels less like a missing-person story and more like a collection of short films stitched together to fill the runtime. Scenes of research incorporate elements of Paganism and demonic forces, attempting to convince the audience that the film is telling a deeper story than it actually is.  There are sequences meant to explain Ashley and Riley’s connection to Shelby Oaks, but the movie never truly clarifies what is happening in each scene.

Many people in the film industry say that filmmakers should “show, not tell,” but this film appears to believe that simply showing spooky and scary imagery and relying on clichés from other films will convey the story. There’s an obvious inspiration from films like The Blair Witch Project, Hereditary, and, surprisingly, Rosemary’s Baby that seem like Stuckman can do a good job replicating, yet he just can’t capture the same magic as those films. In the end, it shows too much and tells too little. By the end, you’re left feeling as if you missed something, as the film front-loads you with different twists and turns and a bizarre moral quandary that feels completely out of left field. There’s even a very funny scene—definitely not intended to be—that feels ripped straight from Scary Movie, followed by a final twist ending that makes the audience go “oh” and slowly walk out of the theater, not feeling very satisfied with what they’ve watched.

Regretfully, Stuckman’s feature debut is a hollow shell, filled with creepy moments that lack a real throughline. Its bland story and confusing allegorical storytelling leave the audience disappointed. Hopefully, Stuckman can take the criticism and create something even better in the future that will leave fans spooked as well as satisfied.