Since 2009 Chris Stuckmannhost of a YouTube movie review channel with over 2 million subscribers, has built a huge brand and become a micro-celebrity in the world of online movie reviews. His success is evidenced by his extremely successful campaign on Kickstarter, the largest crowdfunding platform for horror films to date, allowing him to make his directorial debut. Shelby Oaks.
Stuckmann puts his money where his mouth is in a way that most critics can't say they have the guts to do, and after years of passing judgment on other people's passion projects, he's released his own. Unfortunately, it turns out that 16 years of YouTube criticism and reviewer support isn't enough to launch a memorable film career.
Twelve years after the disappearance of her sister Mia Brennan (Camille Sullivan) refuses to give up hope that Riley Brennan (Sarah Dern) can still be found alive. Riley, a paranormal enthusiast and host of a YouTube show about rumored haunted places, was plagued by childhood nightmares in which a supernatural figure watched her sleep.
While Riley is kidnapped from a scene her YouTube team was investigating, three of her other friends are brutally murdered and their killer is never found. More than ten years later, Mia discovers new information and decides to take her sister's investigation into her own hands.
One third of the film is found footage, one third is a mockumentary and one third is an attempt at heightened atmospheric horror, the film's prologue gives way to a truly impressive and exciting twist – a surprise that gives hope that the project will move beyond its trite beginning with corny dialogue and recycled “documentary” footage. Like every film buff, a reviewer has his own comfortable watch, and Stuckmann credits his influence frequently and highly, including Lake Mungo And The Blair Witch ProjectTwhose recognizable style Stuckmann uses repeatedly throughout the rest of the film instead of forging his own path.
Calling the director's debut film “derivative” is an overstatement, but Shelby Oaks unfolds like a snippet of movie nerds' favorite genre stereotypes. Every few minutes, our main character Mia slowly turns her head to see what's lurking behind her, and she often makes ignorant decisions that only exist in horror movie land. The horror stories are rampant and predictable, the bastard occult themes lazily describe the motivations of our villains, an elderly woman witch worships a puppeteer demonic force (a la hereditary), and in the background of the videos an evil spirit appears, haunting Mia's missing sister Riley since childhood (a la Insidious).
Serving as both writer and director, Stuckmann underuses lead actress Camille Sullivan as Mia, resulting in a lack of engagement. He also failed to make Riley Brennan, the central figure of the missing woman, a fully formed character. The blonde, guitar-playing, Taylor Swift-esque young woman shows no signs of being tormented by supernatural evil for years. Nothing betrays her as a restless, sleep-deprived girl who struggles to get along with her peers or any symptoms of chronic stress—except the clichéd, creepy etchings in her school diaries that are too good to be believable unless superior artistic skills are an acquired symptom of demonic persecution.
Likewise, her three murdered friends receive no attention or attempts at justice. Their killer, believed to be Riley's kidnapper, is on the loose. Do they have siblings or parents who are fighting for them and who are also demanding that the police do something about their murdered loved ones?
The film's central theme of a woman searching for her missing sister is loosely connected to the director's childhood grief at being forcibly separated from his sister after she left their Jehovah's Witnesses community. With horror author Mike Flanagan (thinker behind another religious project, Midnight Mass) obtaining outstanding manufacturer credit, waiting Shelby Oaks The unification of the views of both directors, a common struggle and disgust with controlling religious groups seems obvious, but, unfortunately, such cooperation is not observed.
Horror fans have been spoiled lately with YouTuber-designed horror featuring the Philippou brothers' delightful genre art, but their work is not at all indicative of the collective talent shared by internet celebrities. Many influencers who try to make the transition from new school to old school media fail—Ryan Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi, Lucas Cruickshank, Shane Dawson, Toby Turner, and Red Letter Media, to name a few—but it doesn't have to be inevitable. Stuckmann deserves the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and create a more personable fright, but with more clarity, exploration and confidence.
Shelby Oaks is unsafe. Stuckmann's directorial premiere plays with the rhythms of popular influences in an attempt to recreate the tropes that made the horror classic work, but if you photocopy the timid script, no amount of Flanagan-backed editing and sound effects can make this half-baked occult tale a success.
