Chris Stuckmann, one of YouTube’s first and biggest film critics, with a channel of over two million subscribers, has been making a strong point in interviews promoting his debut film: that the next exciting generation of filmmakers will come from the platform, alongside TikTok and others. And he has a point. Not only does the platform showcase immense creativity and talent, but it also gives aspiring filmmakers the space to experiment and learn.
Supporting his argument is the recent success of horror films by creators who were born on the platform. We’ve had Talk to Me and Bring Her Back from the Australian twins RackaRacka, which pushed boundaries beyond what most studio horror films dare, as well as Together from Michael Shanks and Obsession from Curry Barker, both marked by clever premises and polished execution.
Like those creators, Stuckmann also used YouTube as his personal playground to learn filmmaking. What sets him apart however is that while the others played with blocking, tone, and effects as a means to express something they had not seen before, Stuckmann used the space to pay tribute to what he already loved. His shorts, ranging from horror homages to Indiana Jones and Sin City recreations, were undoubtedly affectionate but recreations nonetheless. And while the other YouTubers’ first features felt experimental, personal, and instinctive, and therefore alive, Stuckmann’s debut Shelby Oaks feels born out of enthusiasm and a desire to recreate what once inspired him. The result is a film that constantly reminds audiences of other, better ones, from The Blair Witch Project to The Omen to Paranormal Activity, but offers little that feels its own.
The production of Shelby Oaks was far from simple. After making his way through the genre festival circuit and finding producers willing to back his vision, Stuckmann co-wrote the script with his wife, crafting a story about a fictional paranormal investigation group that mysteriously vanishes. The perspective later shifts to the sister of the group’s leader, who picks up the investigation herself. Funding gaps and schedule delays led to a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign that raised more than one million dollars in just a month. The film premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival, and soon after, Neon acquired it and reportedly doubled the production budget so Stuckmann could complete his version of the story.
It is unfortunate, but even with the extra budget and the guidance of producer Mike Flanagan, Stuckmann’s vision for the material is not an especially interesting one. Shelby Oaks feels like an unpolished passion project, more a student film with more money than a confident debut. There are moments when it shows promise, but they are brief and isolated. At its best, the film plays like watching a singer who can perfectly imitate other voices, and the only fun becomes guessing who they will mimic next. Between those moments, the pacing drags, the tension fades, and the story starts to feel assembled from scattered ideas rather than guided by vision. It feels less like the work of someone with something to say or an idea to push cinema forward, and more like someone who has watched countless horror films thinking, “Why didn’t the filmmaker try this?”
The script does not help either. Characters deliver awkward lines filled with expository details that only exist so later twists make sense. At the same time, everything not essential to the final reveal, like the disappearance of the rest of the group or the husband’s disapproval, feels neglected or tacked in, leaving an empty experience that, despite running under ninety minutes, feels noticeably long and struggles to hold attention. Its worst sin however is how much the film relies on coincidence, convenience or simply character stupidity (including the protagonist) to work. There were surely simpler ways for its antagonist to achieve its goal, but those probably would not have included the abandoned prison, the cabin in the woods, or even the found footage gimmick that opens the story, and those were probably Stuckmann ideas that were born even before the film itself.
What keeps the film from completely falling apart, other than occasional jump scares, is the textured, efficient score by the Newton Brothers, which helps sustain its atmosphere, and a genuinely strong performance by Camille Sullivan, who sells the protagonist’s fear and grief with conviction. Perhaps if the couple had collaborated with a more experienced writer, they could have focused on building the story around its best qualities instead of letting those strengths fade into the background.
Bound to be viewed forever as “Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks” rather than as a film that stands on its own, it captures the work of a filmmaker whose focus is on what works in movies rather than why it works. It is a love letter from a critic to a genre he clearly adores, but for that kind of passion, YouTube already offers plenty of projects, and not all of them need to become feature-length films.
- Where to watch
Prime Video- Where to watch
- Prime Video
Play trailer
- Original title
- Shelby Oaks
- Director
- Chris Stuckmann
- Cast
- Camille Sullivan, Sarah Durn, Brendan Sexton III, Michael Beach, Keith David, Robin Bartlett, Charlie Talbert, Emily Bennett
- Rated
- R
- Screenwriter
- Sam Liz, Chris Stuckmann
- Composer
- Andrew Grush, Taylor Stewart
- Cinematography
- Andrew Scott Baird, Anthony Berenato Jr.
- Editor
- Patrick Lawrence, Brett W. Bachman
- Country
- Language
- English
- Budget
- $1.4 million
- Box office
- $2.351 million