Every once in a while, a horror film comes along that breaks away from the major studio system. It’s a low-budget release, yet it somehow captures the attention of audiences around the world for how unconventional, yet familiar, it is. It seems a bit too real to be a movie, but the events seem almost too terrifying to be real. The Blair Witch Project (1999) pioneered the modern approach to making found-footage movies, and now, Shelby Oaks (2025) is here to keep that trend alive.
We live in a completely different period of history than when The Blair Witch Project was released. Thanks to the rise of social media, smaller indie films are gaining more recognition on social media sites like TikTok and drawing attention to projects that may have been doomed to obscurity. Shelby Oaks is certainly benefiting from its unconventional marketing approach, but what is the film even about, and is it even worth watching?
What Is ‘Shelby Oaks’ About?
Taking cues from found-footage documentaries like The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), Shelby Oaks is a movie with two distinct halves. The first half is almost entirely archival footage as we try to piece together what happened to a group of YouTubers called the Paranormal Paranoids. Apparently, they went to the abandoned town of Shelby Oaks to film some ghost hunting videos, and shortly after, most of the crew’s bodies were found alongside one of their cameras. That is, except for one crew member, Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn), who was never seen again.
The second half is more traditionally presented, where Riley’s old sister, Mia (Camille Sullivan), ventures forth into Shelby Oaks to see exactly what happened to her. Naturally, this ghost town has a lot going on under the surface, and Mia not only has to contend with the nightmares of the town but also retain hope that somehow, her sister is alive. It goes about as well as you think it does.
How ‘Shelby Oaks’ Became This Generation’s ‘The Blair Witch Project’
Now, all that may sound pretty straightforward, but why is this film garnering as much attention as it is? Is it entirely because of the marketing, or is it something else?
Unquestionably, Shelby Oaks’ marketing played a pretty prominent role in piquing people’s interests. We live in the digital age, where short-form media is easy to consume because of how quickly it can be shared. Much like Cloverfield (2008), several viral shorts were created and released independently of Shelby Oaks, which allowed both films to gain a lot of attention.
There’s also the authenticity of these shorts. The director of the film, Chris Stuckmann, has been a YouTuber for well over a decade and is highly familiar with how to create an authentic YouTube video. These shorts are grounded and presented in a way that feels believable to the point where people thought they had heard of the Paranormal Paranoids previously, even though they were completely fabricated for the movie. Thanks to this, Stuckmann was able to make something akin to an internet Creepypasta where people believed these people had actually existed, and their disappearance became the stuff of urban legend.
Outside of its marketing, Shelby Oaks also shares its minimalistic approach to filmmaking with The Blair Witch Project. Both films had emaciated budgets, with Stuckmann originally raising a little over a million dollars for the film via Kickstarter. They had short shoots and relied almost entirely on atmospheric storytelling to convey just how isolating their respective locations were. Combine all of that, and you have a movie that is presented in a way that feels like discovering a piece of lost media.
Should You Watch ‘Shelby Oaks’?
The reality of the situation, though, is that Shelby Oaks, sadly, isn’t worth watching. All the hype on social media makes the film sound interesting in snippets, but the truth is, Shelby Oaks just doesn’t do enough to stand apart from its far superior inspirations.
Shelby Oaks may take a lot of inspiration from iconic found-footage movies, but it also draws upon all of their tropes. The first half of the film has the right amount of tension and dread you would expect from a found-footage film and channels some of the best shorts from the V/H/S series. Make no mistake, the first half of Shelby Oaks is enjoyable enough because it plays into the archival YouTube/Creepypasta lore that the marketing was based on. But once the second half shifts perspective, quite literally, Stuckmann feels out of his comfort zone and can’t seem to keep the momentum going.
The film is only 91 minutes long, but its second half feels way longer than that. It’s drawn out in the same way that Skinamarink (2023) was, where you expect something creepy and scary to happen, only to be met with lazy and confusing scares. The second half feels conventional to the point where it’s hard to imagine anyone getting excited over it. Horror fans will probably get some enjoyment out of the vibes and tension that litters the first half of the film, and maybe even horror fans who appreciate spooky movies about creepy towns like Silent Hill (2006) will find something to like about the film’s second half. For everyone else, though, the best thing about Shelby Oaks is its marketing and nothing more.
