Shelby Oaks Review (2025)
A documentary crew, a missing persons case, mysterious symbols—for those versed in horror film history, Shelby Oaks feels like a natural successor to the 1999 classic The Blair Witch Project. That film, which made headlines by blurring the line between reality and fiction both within its film and its marketing, feels like a natural jumping off point for what writer-director Chris Stuckman attempts to do with his feature debut.
The Blair Witch Project infamously ends (and technically begins) with the mysterious disappearance of our filmmaking crew. Stuckman’s movie follows Mia (Camille Sullivan), a young woman whose younger sister, Riley (Sarah Durn), went missing 12 years prior. Riley and her friends were YouTube storytellers creating a show in the vein of Ghosthunters when they all vanished. Tragically, three of the victims were discovered dead—but no sign of Riley. In the present, Mia opts to tell Riley’s story in the form of a documentary. But, when a puzzling stranger shows up on her doorway, Mia’s desire to find Riley is reignited sender her to the nearby ghost town, Shelby Oaks.
Stuckman’s effort begins with a found footage prologue which sets up the story and introduces our main character. After the stranger arrives, Stuckman moves into traditional narrative conventions, dropping the pseudo-documentary angle. From this point, we get an unfurling investigation as Mia attempts to discover who the stranger was that showed up on her doorstep and, ultimately, who took Riley Brennan. Sullivan’s turn as the grieving, frantic sister is maybe one of the stronger elements of the film. Overall, it is a small effort. There are 3-4 key roles, but it realy is Sullivan’s vehicle to drive. The third act is the biggest ensemble moment as a trio of characters engage one another.
The film plays with expectations of demonic/possession and cult films. But, it doesn’t do enough different, fresh, or interesting to stand apart. Instead of a feared demon or Satan, our supernatural antagonist is an incubus. So, cool, I guess. But it doesn’t mean much. The more interesting angle, especially keeping the intertextual relationship to a Blair Witch, would have largely included more of the pseudo-documentary approach. Instead, Stuckman quickly devolves into a pretty standard “research the legend” approach complete with the discovery of the exact book needed a library research montage.
As far as sets, locations, and actors, Stuckman gets the most out of his budget (approximately $1 million). However, the film itself looks like a pretty routine episode of television at best and an overproduced commercial at worst. Mia’s house is approriately large enough and spooky enough to earn some creepy moments, and Stuckman makes great use of the documentary/found footage elements which lay many of the foundations for the scares the movie earns. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t have anything to really say or do with the genre or the medium.
The film, while alluding to The Blair Witch Project, also largely evokes to other key texts—David Lynch’s Twin Peaks and the pseudo-documentary Lake Mungo (also heavily Twin Peaks influenced). Lynch and Frost created something revolutionary with Twin Peaks that has inspired numerous storytellers, including the crew of Lake Mungo, which is also about a young woman caught up in tragic circumstances. Lake Mungo while largely underseen outside of devoted horror circles is a poignant, powerful story that makes great use of the documentary style and feels fresh and intriguing. So, for Shelby Oaks to call both of those projects to mind, it is frustrating that it doesn’t try to do more.
At the end of the day, 2025 has been a pretty solid year for the horror genre. However, Shelby Oaks is not in the must-see section of the catalogue. But, if you have seen it or have thoughts, let me know!
