Director: Chris Stuckmann
Starring: Camille Sullivan, Brendan Sexton III, Keith David, Sarah Durn, Derek Mears, Emily Bennett, Charlie Talbert, Robin Bartlett, Michael Leach
Certificate: 15
Run Time: 91 mins

Shelby Oaks is YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann’s directorial debut and he’s chosen to make a supernatural horror. The film follows Mia (Camille Sullivan), who is investigating the disappearance of her younger sister Riley (Sarah Durn). Riley was part of a team of paranormal investigators who had a YouTube channel known as the ‘Paranormal Paranoids’. They’d been investigating a prison in the town of Shelby Oaks, where all of the team were murdered, apart from Riley whose body was never recovered. The film opens with an extended sequence before the opening credits with a documentary featuring Mia, who is being interviewed 12 years after the disappearance, before shifting to a standard narrative.

Shelby Oaks is a very promising debut from Stuckmann that is particularly gripping in its first half, but loses it way in the second half with some serious plot contrivances. The opening is particularly eerie, with a mixture of found footage and mockumentary filming techniques and the events leading to Riley’s disappearance are well developed. It’s tightly paced and beautifully shot by Andrew Scott Baird – Stuckmann’s clearly been influenced by Robert Eggers’s The Witch and Ari Aster’s Hereditary. There’s also a jangly and unsettling score by James Burkholder and The Newton Brothers.

The performances are excellent across the board, with Camille Sullivan particularly impressive in the lead – I really brought her devastation of not knowing where her sister is. Other highlights include Shutter Island‘s Robin Bartlett as Norma, a woman living in Shelby Oaks and the always reliable Keith David as a prison warden.

It’s just a shame that the second half doesn’t live up to the first. I was still gripped but it transcends into more generic horror fare, and the first half really works because Stuckmann’s trying to do something different. A host of plot contrivances also somewhat undo the good work. While I didn’t find the film particularly scary, there are some unsettling moments and I like that Stuckmann doesn’t simply rely on jump scares.

Shelby Oaks is a very promising debut and I found the film entertaining throughout with a brilliant central performance by Camille Sullivan. It’s a shame the film doesn’t sustain its greatness throughout, but Stuckmann proves an adept director and I can’t wait to see what he does next.