Shelby Oaks 2025 Movie Review
Overall, a valiant effort for a directorial debut as Chris Stuckmann shows his potential as a filmmaker with captivating storytelling and ominous world-building, but the movie suffers from issues you would expect from a new indie filmmaker with its amateurish cinematography, cheap visual effects, and an inability to stick the landing because the final 5 minutes ruin this movie’s chance of being something special; I hope Stuckmann can parlay this into making bigger budget movies as he shows potential as a filmmaker, but hopefully he uses his budget wisely because it is obvious Neon wasted the increased budget on cheap CGI and unnecessary reshoots.
Pretty Good to Good: The direction on a macroscale is built well, as they create this ominous mystery in a demented world; I really enjoyed how they weaved the documentary and found footage into the movie; I felt the filmmaking style in the dramatic moments felt a little amateurish with how it looked, which makes sense because this is a directorial debut; The direction on a microscale is pretty good, as you can really empathize with their struggle to find her sister; The storytelling is good for the majority of the movie, as they create a mystery that slowly unravels, but keeps you engaged, as you want to see how things play out; I was not a fan of how the storytelling was in the last five minutes; Tension is built well, as you are emotionally invested in these characters, so you feel on edge when something bad happens to them
Pretty Good to Good: The concept is good, as it’s a missing girl mystery that weaves in found footage elements to give it a Blair Witch feel, and the conflict is presented in a way that it doesn’t give away too much, but at least gives you a why for why things are happening; The plot structure is good for the most part, as the movie feels like a good mystery that slowly unravels the more you try to solve the disappearance, though the resolution wasn’t that great, as it felt forced; Character writing is good, as you get a sense of the protagonist’s struggle trying to find her sister and the world they live in affecting them; The character writing is critical in helping connect with the protagonist’s struggle, as you feel invested in her trying to find closure
Pretty Good to Good: The dialogue is sharp for the most part, nothing super outstanding; the symbolism is very strong, as the movie touches on issues of loss and grief as well as pagan and found footage supernatural tropes; the foreshadowing is strong in the movie, as it helps the protagonist try to solve the mystery
Pretty Good: Camille Sullivan – Pretty Good to Good (The star of the show, she shows a wide range of emotions and is the emotional core for this movie; we experience this mystery through her eyes as she is motivated to find her lost sister after 12 years), Brendan Sexton III – Pretty Bad (Honestly, it feels very stiff and doesn’t have chemistry with Sullivan), Robin Bartlett – Decent to Pretty Good (Plays a real sinister character, but doesn’t have much time to work with), Sarah Dunn – Pretty Good (Really shows a wide range of emotions as she really embodies the character and feels like what the lead of Blair Witch Project should have been), Keith David – Pretty Good (Feels like he was a part of the reshoots, but he does a pretty good job and has chemistry in the one scene he is in), Rest of the cast – Decent (A pretty small cast, but what you would expect from a low-budget horror movie)
