Critic Chris Stuckmann follows a long line of writers turned artists that goes back generations, turning his love for horror into his Kickstarter and Mike Flanagan-produced debut feature, which premiered originally at Fantasia in July 2024 before being picked up by Neon, slightly reconfigured, and now launching out of Fantastic Fest. Stuckmann\u2019s love for the genre, especially the found footage one, could be one of the reasons this movie falters, as he too willfully cribs from superior works like \u201cThe Blair Witch Project\u201d and \u201cLake Mungo\u201d without really conveying the dread produced by the films that inspired him. \u201cShelby Oaks\u201d is a film that plays like a checklist of clich\u00e9s, a movie that so aggressively employs techniques we\u2019ve seen work better elsewhere that it becomes almost numbing. Horror fans don\u2019t mind familiarity, but not if it feels like the echo is all there is to listen to.<\/p>\n
\u201cShelby Oaks\u201d opens promisingly, sketching through what looks like interview segments for a documentary and news clips about the disappearance of a YouTube star (a kinda funny meta choice given how much Stuckmann grew his base in that realm) named Riley Brennan (Sarah Dunn). She was the face of a group of ghost hunters named the \u201cParanormal Paranoids,\u201d a controversial bunch who created online debate over whether or not their impressive videos were real. How could they be? There must be something else going on in the shots of figures in doorways. Stuckmann flirts with but doesn\u2019t commit to an interesting subplot about disbelieving what we\u2019re seeing and how sometimes we should trust the image.<\/p>\n
And then Riley and her three colleagues disappear, shortly after filming a segment at an abandoned prison. They had two cameras recording their shoots. The footage from one is found, and it reveals something horrible happened to Riley, but it\u2019s hard to say what. Was she kidnapped? Did the demon she thought was hunting her for her entire life finally claim her? Or could the terror be closer to home? When everyone but Riley is found murdered and mangled, the mystery deepens.<\/p>\n
Cut to 12 years later. Riley\u2019s sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) has had her life defined by looking for answers about her sister although, in one of the script\u2019s many confusing choices, she didn\u2019t have to look very far given the path to sis goes through the haunted prison and haunted amusement park in the town that she explored most often. Those might be the first two places I would look. After a guy shows up on Mia\u2019s porch with the missing tape in his hand, she sets off to finally find Riley, discovering that the unexpected visitor was an inmate at the prison where Riley shot some of her last footage. Did he take Riley? Why? Could she still be alive?<\/p>\n