Shelby Oaks


Shelby Oaks is an impressive achievement in grassroots genre filmmaking, Chris Stuckmann’s feature debut is an imperfect but effectively chilling horror hybrid. The film centers on Mia Brennan (Camille Sullivan, in a star-making performance) whose sister Riley has been missing for 12 years after Riley, a YouTube amateur ghost hunter, investigated a small town called Shelby Oaks. A suicide and a mysterious VHS tape lead Mia to further investigate but she soon discovers something much more sinister than she could have imagined. This is a fascinating love letter to horror cinema, a hybrid of straightforward horror, Mockumentary and found footage with a bit of investigative mystery and urban legends thrown in. A clear labor of love for Stuckmann, Shelby Oaks has some rough edges and an ending that is maybe a bit wobbly but it works as a strong beginning to a potentially great filmmaking career. Spooky and engaging, Shelby Oaks is worth a visit. 

I Give It 4 1/2 Stars!!! 

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