I've been writing reviews on here on and off for a little over eight years now. When I first started really getting into film and film criticism, Chris Stuckmann was one of the critics on Youtube I gravitated to the most. All of his videos were informative and I found our tastes aligned pretty well. Ultimately I don't know if this site exists without his inspiration, so naturally the news a few years back that he would be directing his own feature was a pretty big deal. Stuckmann first signed on to do Shelby Oaks back in 2021, but production was delayed by a lack of sufficient funding and the looming IATSE strike. Shelby Oaks then became the highest funded horror film on Kickstarter and production was set to begin. Post-production was delayed by the actor's strike in 2023, but once the film was done the magnificent Mike Flanagan signed on as an executive producer, helping Stuckmann elevate his vision to be the best it could be. After its world premiere last summer, Neon acquired the film's distribution rights, and now this weekend the world finally gets to see Stuckmann's debut.
The film opens with a faux documentary recounting the disappearance of Riley Brennan. Riley was the host of a paranormal investigation webseries when her and her three costars go missing near Shelby Oaks Ohio. Eventually the bodies of the three costars are found, each gruesomely murdered, but Riley's is nowhere to be found. Twelve years later, Riley's sister Mia is still searching for her. After filming an interview for the documentary, Mia receives a knock at her front door. When she opens it, a strange man shoots himself in front of her, dying with a tape in his hand labelled 'Shelby Oaks'. The tape contains footage thus far unseen, giving Mia a push in her search for Riley.
Horror is a very subjective genre, what scares one person might be child's play to another. With that in mind, Shelby Oaks is the most scared I've been by a movie this year. Part of this is how great a job Stuckmann does at keeping everything mysterious pretty much until the end. The combination of not knowing what to expect with moments of great grainy found footage, as well as sound design that uses silence brilliantly, worked to keep me constantly on edge and occasionally covering my eyes. The quietness of the soundscape along with that graininess to everything Mia finds on the tape makes you lean in a little bit more just to make sure you don't miss anything that may be hard to see, only for Stuckmann to use that intrigue to unleash a scare on you that you'll know was coming but still somehow weren't ready for.
Mia is played by Camille Sullivan, an actor who looks eerily familiar but I've never seen in anything before. At first I wasn't sure how to feel about her performance, but as the film goes on she has some frankly wild moments and nails them. You can feel the despair and desperation in the character all throughout, excellent work from her. Aside from Sullivan though, the cast is mostly just solid. Sarah Durn does have some strong moments as Riley, in particular I thought her performance in the fake paranormal investigation show was quite great. The iconic Keith David has one scene, not enough to really leave an impact but I'll always love seeing him on screen, and Robin Bartlett leaves a decent impact with limited screen time late in the film.
While I found myself on edge for pretty much the whole movie, I was slightly disappointed in the final act. The opening mockumentary is fascinating, and everything leading up to the climax is terrifying, but the final result did leave a bit to be desired. I didn't dislike it, I just found that it felt very familiar and sucked some of the fearful air from the room. All in all though, this shows a ton of promise for Stuckmann as a filmmaker, and on its own this is a film well worth watching. That Flanagan connection also led to the Newton Brothers composing the score which is always a win. Whether you're familiar with Stuckmann or not, I'd definitely recommend giving this a watch as a very solid paranormal thriller for the Halloween season. 3.5/5
Comments
Post a Comment