It might be the year that saw Sinners raise hell over Easter and Weapons target the late summer but this Halloween, the options are scarily poor in comparison, no tricks or treats, just junk. Last week’s Elm Street-cribbing sequel Black Phone 2 was a sign of a franchise already running out of steam while this week, low-budget disappointment Shelby Oaks tries and fails to start a new one, a scrappy attempt to conjure the clammy fear of The Blair Witch Project, a film that has so far proved impossible to replicate (horror fans would be far better served by making the most of the Sinners Imax re-release).
It’s the debut of the YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann, who premiered his Kickstarter-funded feature at last year’s genre-led Fantasia festival, attracting the attention of Neon, a company who had just achieved surprise success with the serial killer horror Longlegs. In an unusual move, they gave Stuckmann extra budget to refine, and reportedly add more gore, before they packaged it up, with another trademark drip-feed marketing campaign, as this year’s must-see film for Halloween. But there is no amount of late-stage patchwork that can hide what still feels awkwardly unfinished, a cheaply cobbled together head-scratcher that really doesn’t feel ready for a wide theatrical release. This weekend, expect refunds …
