Shelby Oaks Review: When the Horror Fades Before the Screams

Chris Stuckmann’s long-awaited directorial debut, Shelby Oaks, generated excitement with its trailer, but ultimately fails to deliver on its emotional ambition, leaving both critics and audiences disappointed.

Here is our version of Shelby Oaks review- a psychological horror that ends up being a frustratingly hollow debut, and is unable to find a true voice.​

Plot details of Shelby Oaks (2025)

An obsessed woman, Mia (played by Camille Sullivan), has been searching for her missing sister for the past 12 years. Her sister, Riley (played by Sarah Durn), was a member of the missing YouTubers Paranormal Paranoids, who went with her fellow YouTubers to investigate an abandoned town, Shelby Oaks.

Soon, the sisters find that they have to face their childhood imaginary demon, which was not imaginary after all.​

Watch the trailer here:​

Actors’ performances in Shelby Oaks (2025)

Camille Sullivan was prominent for her role, which carries most of the emotional weight in the film. She was the most vulnerable and intense, as she navigated 12 years in finding her sister, making her more determined than ever.

Sullivan’s Mia was the only character that served a strong and central performance, highlighted as the emotional core of the film. It was remarkable to watch her change the film’s narrative when recording a documentary from traditional filmmaking.  ​

Sarah Durn presented a layered character, Riley, who always knew when something was wrong. The film’s terror is portrayed well by Durn, keeping us hooked till the end.

However, there were times when her acting seemed broken, probably because she was not able to get much screen presence. Otherwise, she could have opened up more.​

Robin Bartlett’s Norma was sinister, despite her short presence. She plays a powerful witch and a devoted servant to Incubus Tarion. Her son Wilson Miles (Charlie Talbert) served as a vessel for both Norma and the Incubus to capture Riley.

Both of these characters were dark and menacing as they ran an apparent demonic cult that resulted in Shelby Oaks’ rot. They were crucial antagonists to the storyline, both controlled by the demonic entity.  ​

What do critics add to Shelby Oaks review?​

With a disappointing  RT critics’ score, Shelby Oaks has a critics consensus review that states,

“Shelby Oaks may stumble in its final moments, but its atmospheric tension and emotional core firmly establish it as a chilling debut from director Chris Stuckmann.” [Source]​

A majority of the critics’ reviews call it “derivative” since Chris Stuckmann is a critic himself, and his debut story seems influenced by several movies that he has reviewed himself.​

Critics believe that he has potential, but this time he failed terribly in two things: character development and building true horror chills throughout the story.​

Fans’ reaction​

With the same Popcornmeter rating from the general audience, they called it “one of the most disappointing movies of the year”. They know that it is not an original story and seems like a copy of many.​

Some of them recommended watching The Blair Witch Project (1999) instead and refraining from wasting time on watching Shelby Oaks. A few mentioned jump scares were good, and despite a “disjointed narrative”, the movie resumes with its pace towards the end.

Is it worth watching?

Chris Stuckmann’s debut horror film did not hit the mark, and you are not missing much by skipping it. The emotional investment of the two protagonists was largely missing.

Shelby Oaks seemed like a generic horror film, which Stuckmann demonstrated as an amalgamation of what he had learned from other films. Films like The Blair Witch Project, The 400 Blows (1959), Targets (1989), and Hell House LLC (2015), etc, all seem to be his inspiration.​

He appears to stuff several genre tropes in one film, whereas he could save some for his possible sequel. I’ll explain it later here.    

The film is based on a real abandoned place and its amusement park, but fictional YouTubers who went missing. It is less of an original vision and more of an experiment. He can take it as a learning experience, though. His effort deserves applause.

The end was definitely spine-chilling, but the route the film had to take to reach it was extremely dry and bland. The atmospheric chills were there but faded soon before we knew.  

Stuckmann’s online reviews are a rave, and people enjoy him as a critic only. Given his knowledge of the films, there is a chance that he will bounce back and maybe explore an idea for Shelby Oaks‘ sequel.

Why do I say that? Because I want to know more about Norma. I want to know how she became Incubus’s servant and how she and her son were trapped by the devil.​

It might sound like Weapons’ sequel based on Aunt Gladys’s origin story. Norma could have a deep, unsettling mythology connected to her origins, but the film never gives it room to breathe.​

Also, when Wilson Miles reached Mia’s house and said, “she finally let me go”, it was an intriguing part of how Norma had kept him captive and why now, after so many years, she had let him go.

Shelby Oaks’ sequel might have a good chance to turn it into a full-on horror rollercoaster now that viewers have had a tedious but unseen satanic start to the terrifying ride.

If Norma gets a chance to show her whispers of a pact with the Incubus in more detail next time, the viewers might forgive the dullness of Shelby Oaks this time.    

What we liked

• Camille Sullivan’s performance
• Atmospheric tension
• Strong concept and lore potential
• Cinematic presentation
• Debut effort

What could be better

• Weak story and pacing
• Poor character development
• Unoriginal execution
• Uneven scares
• Underused mythology
• Unbalanced emotional core

Here’s a detailed breakdown of our rating for Shelby Oaks (2025):

Story/plot	3/10
Characters and acting	3/10
Direction and pacing	5/10
Visuals and cinematography	6/10
Soundtrack/score	6/10
Themes and message	2/10
Emotional impact	2/10
Creativity/originality	2/10
Rewatchability	1/10

​​Our rating: 5/10​

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by NEON (@neonrated)

Is Shelby Oaks (2025) available for online streaming?

​Neon distributes Shelby Oaks (2025) (R-rated) theatrically at the moment. It will later be available on online streaming platforms like HBO Max, Apple TV, Netflix, or Peacock. 

Genre: Horror, thriller

IMDb rating: 5.8

Rotten Tomatoes: 54 percent on Tomatometer (critics’ score) and 54 percent on Popcornmeter

Cast: Camille Sullivan, Sarah Durn, Robin Bartlett, Charlie Talbert, Keith David, Brendan Sexton III, Michael Beach

Director: Chris Stuckmann

Writers: Chris Stuckmann, Sam Liz

Producers: Aaron B. Koontz, Cameron Burns, Ashleigh Snead

Release date: October 24, 2025

Movie runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes

Did Shelby Oaks scare you or bore you? Drop your review in the comments — we’d love to hear what you think!