Turn on your TV, open the Tubi app, and throw a rock at your screen. You’ll probably hit 15 different movies about an independent documentary film crew disappearing after investigating a paranormal or haunted location before the app even finishes loading the home screen. That’s because this is one of the most common tropes of the past nearly 30 years (The Blair Witch Project, Grave Encounters, etc.) A few of the other most common tropes in the horror space are: found footage, a cabin in the woods, getting kidnapped by demons, getting impregnated with a demonic brood, and people searching for a vanished family member, most commonly a daughter. If you enjoy all of these tropes, boy, do I have good news for you!
Shelby Oaks combines all of these into one story – a one-stop shop to satisfy all of your disparate horror needs in one place. Now, instead of trying to choose between 12 different movies, you can just watch Shelby Oaks! Brought to you by executive producer Mike Flanagan (Mr. Netflix himself) and writer/director Chris Stuckmann (film critic and YouTuber), Shelby Oaks takes place in the fictional Ohio ghost town of, you guessed it – Shelby Oaks! Curiously, the fictional town of Shelby Oaks is located in the very real Darke County, Ohio.
Shelby Oaks begins with doc-style interview footage, along with some found footage of a group of amateur paranormal investigators and YouTubers named “Paranormal Paranoids” investigating the ghost town of Shelby Oaks. (One question… Why would paranormal investigators label themselves as paranoid? Is this one of those 8 Mile / B-Rabbit things where you attack yourself first so your enemies have nothing left to hit you with? I digress.) The found footage aspect is twofold. There is the original footage from around 2007 shot by the members of the paranormal investigation crew, and there is the newer footage from around 2019 of a documentary being shot on the disappearance of Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn), the host of Paranormal Paranoids (The PPs for short).
“A woman searches for her sister who disappeared 12 years earlier while filming with a paranormal investigation crew.”
Riley’s older sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) is searching for her and believes she is still alive, because she is the only member of the group whose body was never found. Mia mentions that Riley seemed to be haunted by something as a child, frequently seeing a man appear outside of her bedroom window. After finishing her interview for the documentary, Mia sees a tape with something horrific that leads her to continue searching for Riley on her own. Will she find her? Or will she become the next victim of whatever happened to Riley?
The best part of the entire movie? An appearance by the legendary Keith David (The Thing, They Live, etc.)! This guy can make any movie enjoyable simply by being in it.
While Shelby Oaks doesn’t necessarily bring anything new to the horror genre, it does just fine with what it has to work with. If you look past the fact that it’s created completely out of pre-existing tropes, you can enjoy the story. It’s made well, the actors are all good, and the cinematography and audio are all done at a high level, especially for a new director’s first film. Even when you see the mysterious symbol made out of sticks that looks curiously like it came directly out of The Blair Witch Project. I promise you’ll still like it.
P.S. If you’re into found footage / missing persons style films like this, I recommend also checking out a small film titled We Are The Missing on YouTube. It’s very creepy and unsettling enough to create a perfect double feature with Shelby Oaks.
"…a crew of paranormal investigators were all murdered, except for one..."
