2025’s Shelby Oaks came to fruition thanks to a very 2020s method: crowdfunding. Kickstarter allowed the filmmakers to amass the necessary funds to bring this low-budget indie horror flick into production.

Riley Brennan (Sarah Durn), Laura Tucker (Caisey Cole), David Reynolds (Eric Francis Melaragni), and Peter Bailey (Anthony Baldasare) collectively conduct paranormal investigations for YouTube videos. When they check out a prison in the abandoned town of Shelby Oaks, they go missing.

Eventually authorities locate the corpses of all but Riley and terrifying footage pops up as well. 12 years later, Riley’s older sister Mia (Camille Sullivan) attempts to revive the cold case, a choice that takes her down dark paths.

In an unusual twist, Oaks mixes “found footage” material with more traditional cinematic methods. The first 17 minutes comes completely from “found footage” as well as clips from a “documentary” that looks into the events involved with Riley’s disappearance.

Oaks turns into a more standard film after that 17-minute mark. However, it still features some of the “found footage”, and this feels like a choice that could give it spark.

Instead, the mixing of techniques seems borderline superfluous. Yeah, Mia makes observations based on the footage that push ahead the plot, but the use of “found footage” still feels like a gimmick to me.

Which I understand because Oaks needs gimmicks to theoretically engage the viewer. I say “theoretically” because even with these unusual choices, the end product becomes a sluggish ride.

Like an awful lot of horror films, Oaks feels better suited to exist as a short. It spreads maybe 20 minutes of content across 91 minutes and this makes the movie really drag.

We spend a lot of time with Mia as she watches video. We also visit Mia as she lurks around various settings in which not much happens.

In other words, the narrative of Oaks feels badly padded. It just doesn’t include enough development or material of interest to keep us occupied across 91 minutes.

Indeed, Oaks doesn’t come close to 91 minutes of actual story. Because the end credits need to mention everyone who contributed to the Kickstarter fund, this text roll lasts a mind-bending 12 minutes.

Given the nature of the story, Oaks should find it easy to give us 79 minutes of compelling material. Instead, we get the filler to which I already alluded.

In an attempt to compensate, Oaks throws bunches of standard horror tropes at us. Jump scares abound, as do musical stings that attempt to provide a viewer reaction.

None of these methods work and Oaks fails to ever get into a groove. While the premise boasts potential, the final product becomes slow and boring.

Footnote: a minor audio tag appears at the conclusion of the end credits.

Shelby Oaks appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc – well, somewhat. The movie mixes in windowboxed 1.33:1 and 1.78:1 as well.

A mix of sources, the visuals showed inevitable ups and downs. We got elements shot on Mini-DV all the way up to 8K digital cameras.

Obviously this meant erratic image quality, with those consumer video shots the ugliest of the bunch. They came with blocky definition and bland colors.

Of course, this came as no surprise. The picture choices added a sense of verisimilitude to their nature.

The rest of the film looked very good, though, with delineation that seemed accurate and tight. A little softness occasionally impacted some interiors but the majority of the non-videotape material looked precise.

These components lacked moiré effects or jagged edges, and I saw no edge haloes. The video stuff suffered tons of artifacts, of course, but the higher resolution material didn’t come with those issues.

Perhaps inevitably, Oaks brought a palette heavy on orange/amber and teal. Though trite, those colors felt well-depicted on the Blu-ray.

Blacks appeared full and deep, while shadows presented appealing clarity. Thanks to the amount of crude video footage we got, I didn’t feel comfortable with a grade above a “B”, but most of the movie looked better than that.

Like most horror flicks, the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Oaks leaned toward creepy atmosphere abetted by sporadic bouts of more active material. This meant music that filled the room as well as a good sense of spooky ambience.

More aggressive scenes used the soundfield in a compelling manner. These sequences opened up the soundscape and created an involving and impactful sense of the action.

Note that shots taken from the Paranormal Paranoids tapes featured multichannel audio – well, except for scenes in which Mia watched the footage at home. Those brought the audio from her POV.

But other segments that featured the “found footage” on its own violated the nature of the source since these clips should go monaural or maybe stereo at best instead of 5.1. Most “found footage” films do this so it didn’t surprise me here, but it’ll always irritate me.

Audio quality varied via the different sources but nonetheless satisfied. Of course, the Paranoids clips tended to seem thin and somewhat rough – except for the work done to expand them to 5.1, as those components showed greater range.

For the rest of the film, speech remained concise and distinctive. Music boasted appealing range and fidelity.

Effects seemed accurate and lacked distortion. While not a great mix, this one suited the movie.

We get a mix of extras here, and we launch with an audio commentary from writer/director Chris Stuckmann. He provides a running, screen-specific look at the project’s roots, development and long production schedule, story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, photographic domains, editing, music/audio, effects and connected areas.

While he sags a little in the movie’s final act, Stuckmann usually makes this a strong commentary. He covers a broad array of topics and does so in a lively and engaging manner.

Six Making of Shelby Oaks featurettes span a total of 26 minutes, 32 seconds. We hear from Stuckmann, producer Aaron B. Koontz, director of photography Andrew Scott Baird, producer/line producer Ashleigh Snead, costume designer Shawna-Nova Foley, 1st AD Michelle Millette, special makeup effects artist David Greathouse, 2nd 2nd AD Joe Chenoweth, and actors Camille Sullivan, Keith David and Robin Bartlett.

Across these reels, we learn about Stuckmann’s progression from YouTube creator to film director, launching the project, sets and locations, various effects, costumes, cast and performances, and general thoughts.

“Making” acts more like a production diary than a regular documentary, and it does fine in that regard. We get enough good behind the scenes footage to make it worth a look, though I wish it came with a “Play All” option.

Four Paranormal Paranoids episodes take up a cumulative 40 minutes, 16 seconds. These let us see the full segments of the Riley character and her pals excerpted in the film.

While I admit I didn’t particularly enjoy these segments, I appreciate their inclusion. It becomes a cool addition to the package to view the videos that act as background for the movie’s plot.

With The Final Tape, we get a 13-minute, 18-second reel that purports to show the crucial video partially featured in the film. Like the Paranoids clips, it becomes a cool aspect of the disc.

Crime Scene Gallery shows three gory stills. No thanks.

If a Blu-ray tells you it includes a Special Hidden Feature, does it count as an Easter egg? Probably not.

Anyway, click up from “Set Up” on the main menu to highlight a “+” and press enter to see a four-minute, 38-second family video of Mia and Riley as kids. It seems wholly boring and unnecessary.

The disc opens with ads for No Other Choice and Keeper. We also find the trailer for Oaks as well as three TV spots for the film.

A mix of ‘found footage’ and more traditional horror, Shelby Oaks never gets into a groove. It lacks the narrative material necessary to carry its brief running time and drags too much to hit the mark. The Blu-ray comes with positive picture and audio as well as a collection of bonus features. Though Oaks boasts the potential to become an interesting genre effort, it just doesn’t click.