Shelby Oaks is a promising horror driven by smart choices

When a horror movie is bad, it can be catastrophically bad. Good horror can either be great or just plain good, with originality, fear factor and execution sustaining its watchability.

- By Sam Spiller

Shelby Oaks is best described as “baby’s first good horror”. Although it’s nothing revolutionary in storytelling and boasts a limited number of scares, it’s still a budget exercise in well-paced filmmaking with a strong lead performance.

The film follows Mia Brennan (played by Camille Sullivan), who hasn't given up the search for her younger sister, Riley (Sarah Durn), who vanished alongside her team of amateur paranormal investigators in the abandoned Ohio town of Shelby Oaks.

Though 16 years have passed since Riley's disappearance, new videotape evidence and a gruesome incident tied to this evidence send Mia down a new investigative trail. She comes face to face with an unspoken evil, one that had its sights on her sister all those years ago — and is now turning its attention to her.