‘Shelby Oaks’ Review – Found Footage Horror Gets Stuckmannized
That might be a bit of a spoiler, but Shelby Oaks is a 2025 supernatural horror movie that dabbles in some Blair Witch tropes to tell the tale of a troupe of paranormal investigators who go missing after exploring the titular town. The leader of the group, The Paranormal Paranoids (…very clever…), Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn) is the only one with a tenable lead to her whereabouts.
RELATED: ‘Predator: Badlands’ Review — Predator At Its Action-Packed Best
Or so her sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) believes. The last time Riley was seen alive was in a vlog pleading for help before she disappeared. Mia compulsively watches the video and other uploads by the Paranoids for clues, and keeps the investigation alive by participating in a true crime documentary about Riley’s vanishing and everything leading to it. Then one day, a creepy guy shows up at Mia’s door and shoots himself dead.
In his hand is a tape of raw unreleased footage from the Paranoids’ last and fateful ghost hunt. The tape is labeled “Shelby Oaks,” which – as well as the name of the film – is an abandoned town in the spooky Darke County of Ohio (again…very clever). On it are the answers to the mystery of what happened to Riley, and what the suicidal delivery guy, an ex-con named Wilson Miles (Charlie Talbert), has to do with it.
Unfortunately for an already traumatized Mia, the bloody weird tape leaves her with more questions and answers, so she travels to Darke County alone to investigate the decaying town. Soon realizing she and her sister share a repressed connection to the area, Mia literally conjures forgotten demons and finds more than she bargained for.
Shelby Oaks is the passion project of YouTube movie reviewer Chris Stuckmann who made headlines for his highly criticized take on Madame Web. After that whole debacle, having his name attached to a major indie horror release during the Halloween season piqued my interest. I wondered, was he able to put the Sony Spider-verse disaster behind him and churn out something solid? Or should he stick with half-hearted film critiques?
RELATED: ‘Primitive War’ Review – The Real Jurassic Rebirth
Stuckmann should not quit his day job if he really likes it, but that does not mean he’ll have to worry about his future as a filmmaker. While he has to put in the work and remain consistent, Shelby Oaks is a decent start he can be proud of. It shows its budget in spots but looks good for what it is, and probably it cost to make.
The film is executive produced by Mike Flanagan, who knows how to get a lot out of very little. His first movie, Absentia, is one of the best low-budget horror movies I’ve ever seen. It’s also one of the best debuts of any director in the last decade and a half. In Shelby Oaks, I saw Flanagan’s influence everywhere, especially in dimly lit scenes and moments of slow tension. I was prepared to jump a few times when windows began cracking in one of the most prevalent motifs.
While found footage is one of those motifs, it’s not found footage in the same way as Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. The story is structured more like Cannibal Holocaust where there is a narrative the cryptic video is built around instead of the entire thing being told through the cameras the characters hold. Clips serve the story by dropping breadcrumbs for Mia to follow and to book-end each act.
Stuckmann is good at setting mood and building suspense. However, where he ultimately leads viewers is rather pedestrian. In the final act, the film shifts gears from a preternatural Poughkeepsie Tapes to a Flanagan take on Rosemary’s Baby that draws elements from Weapons and Prisoners. The fate of Riley and the reason for it made sense, but it was all pretty obvious in hindsight.
Shelby Oaks is decent and fits the Neon brand like a glove. It also lives up to the expectations for anything that has Mike Flanagan’s name attached. Is it breaking a lot of new ground? Not really, but it never looks as cheap as a crowdfunded effort can.
NEXT: ‘Weapons’ (2025) Review — Hilarious Horror That Trickles Through A Dramatic, Bonkers Mystery
Shelby Oaks
PROS
- Found footage that enhances structure rather than forming it
- Suspense and darkness plus lighting and camerawork
- Derek Mears as the monster
CONS
- Payoff doesn't quite equal the buildup
- Familiar territory
