Shelby Oaks

Directed by Chris Stuckmann, Shelby Oaks follows a woman (Camille Sullivan’s Mia) as she launches an obsessive search to find her missing sister (Sarah Durn’s Riley). Filmmaker Stuckmann, armed with his own screenplay, admittedly does a superb job of initially luring the viewer into the progressively lackluster production, as Shelby Oaks kicks off with a compelling found-footage opening stretch that effectively establishes Durn’s plucky figure and the decidedly mysterious circumstances surrounding her disappearance. (It doesn’t hurt, certainly, that this portion of the proceedings bears more than a passing resemblance to The Blair Witch Project.) And while Stuckmann’s bold choice to veer away from found footage into a more traditional, cinematic atmosphere is bold and unexpected, to be sure, Shelby Oaks‘ grip on the viewer is slowly-but-surely loosened by a midsection that grows less and less interesting – with the tiresome, tedious emphasis on Mia’s investigation accelerating the picture’s descent into irrelevance. By the time the padded-out and hopelessly anticlimactic third act rolls around, Shelby Oaks has cemented its place as a disappointing misfire that nevertheless succeeds as a calling-card for first-time director Stuckmann (ie it’s clear the guy has talent, ultimately).

*1/2 out of ****