Chris Stuckmann makes his directorial debut with Shelby Oaks, a horror movie which simply obtained purchased by Neon for a large launch.
PLOT: When Riley (Sarah Durn), a YouTube paranormal investigator, disappears, her older sister, Mia (Camille Sullivan), frantically searches for her.
REVIEW: Of all of the movies premiering at this 12 months’s version of the Fantasia Movie Competition, only a few have piqued the curiosity of style followers all over the place, like Shelby Oaks. The function directorial debut of YouTube movie critic Chris Stuckmann (who additionally wrote and co-produced the movie), it was just lately snapped up for theatrical launch by Neon, who’re using excessive as a style distributor following the success of Longlegs. A lot of his followers are curious whether or not Stuckmann’s on-camera criticism interprets into strong directorial chops.
So what’s the end result? Unhappy to say, the hope that Shelby Oaks could be the following nice horror debut was overblown. That is meant as no sleight towards Stuckmann who, I need to admit, I do know subsequent to nothing about. I’ve solely seen a handful of his critiques, however he’s at all times struck me as a pleasant, personable man. As a primary movie, Shelby Oaks isn’t horrible, however the determination to present this an enormous build-up and launch appears to have been absolutely motivated by his web notoriety. I’ve seen different low-budget horror outings that had been a lot better than this and vanished with no hint, though kudos to Stuckmann for parlaying his web fame right into a burgeoning profession as a director.
To make certain, this can be a robust movie to evaluate. The film hinges on an attention-grabbing twist that happens early within the movie and adjustments issues up in an enormous approach, however everybody seeing it early has been requested to not reveal what it’s. It’s a strong reveal, and I actually received’t spoil it for you – expensive JoBlo readers – but it surely leaves me having to unpack a film I actually can’t reveal an excessive amount of about.
Shelby Oaks does take an attention-grabbing perspective on the discovered footage style, with the movie hinging round Camille Sullivan’s Mia, who’s looking desperately for her paranormal investigator sister. Whereas investigating a mysterious space referred to as Shelby Oaks, she and her crew all vanished, with the horribly mangled corpses of her colleagues discovered quickly after. Nevertheless, the sister, Riley, was nowhere to be discovered. Everybody, together with Mia’s harried husband, Robert (Brendan Sexton III) and the cop investigating the case (Mayor of Kingstown’s Michael Seashore), suppose she’s useless.
Stuckmann clearly has a deep love for the style, however there’s truthfully nothing right here you haven’t seen earlier than. The debt it owes to The Blair Witch Venture and Rosemary’s Child is palpable, and Stuckmann, proper now, isn’t a refined sufficient author or director to essentially make Shelby Oaks a compelling watch. A number of the imagery is groan-worthy, with Mia saying at one level how she and her husband needed to start out a household however had been sidetracked (for twelve years) by the case. How is that this illustrated? By a careless, recurring shot of a child crib crammed with investigative recordsdata.
The change from Mia to sleuth additionally appears to return out of nowhere, as does Robert’s descent from a supportive husband to somebody who thinks his spouse goes off the deep finish (regardless of apparent proof she’s on to one thing). Stuckmann does what he can together with his low funds, however the film’s greatest downside has nothing to do with restricted sources. The actual fact is, it’s not scary in any respect. It’s extremely tame, with it missing any actual rigidity regardless of an attention-grabbing, late-in-the-game efficiency from veteran actress Robin Bartlett (who I’ll at all times bear in mind as “The French Teacher” in If Seems May Kill).
The movie is constructed round Camille Sullivan’s Mia, and she or he does what she will be able to with a thinly written function. For a lot of the film, her character appears one be aware, just for a late-in-the-game reversal that’s arduous to swallow and runs opposite to a lot of what we’ve seen earlier than. The film does profit from a refined rating by The Newton Brothers, who incessantly work with producer Mike Flanagan. Nonetheless, the movie is so uneven that one wonders if Neon is planning to even out a few of the tough spots earlier than it will definitely hits theatres.
Ultimately, Shelby Oaks is actually not a trainwreck and respectable sufficient that Stuckmann might certainly have a strong profession forward of him as a filmmaker. Nevertheless it’s removed from the sensible debut one would possibly count on, provided that Neon is giving it a serious launch it doesn’t actually deserve—or a minimum of not on this critic’s opinion.
