I was excited to see the horror film Shelby Oaks because the director/writer of the movie was YouTube movie reviewer Chris Stuckmann, who I have liked for many years. I know this was a passion project that he raised funds for with Kickstarter and I like seeing someone accomplish a goal.

According to IMDB, “A woman’s desperate search for her long-lost sister falls into obsession upon realizing that the imaginary demon from their childhood may have been real.”

The movie started off like it was a documentary, talking about Riley (Sarah Durn) and her crew at the YouTube channel, Paranoid Paranormal, had disappeared after arriving in the town of Shelby Oaks. Riley’s sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) investigated the disappearance, which was eventually tied to something from the sister’s past.

The chunk of the movie was engaging. There music cues were very successful in creating some tension where necessary. I really enjoyed the documentary style that started the film off. It was quite a chunk of time in this format before the title card came along. I thought that the documentary format was mor compelling than the middle section of the movie, though I did enjoy most of it.

I will say that I was fairly disappointed with the ending of the film. I did not feel a satisfaction with how things were resolved and it weakened a solid effort prior to it.

I was impressed with Stuckmann’s directorial debut as there were several good scenes and shots through the film. The film looked really good too.

Overall, I think it was a good debut from Stuckmann and it is something that he can always be proud of completing. I do think there are better movies in his future, but Shelby Oaks was wacthable.

3.5 stars