Much has been made about the making of “Shelby Oaks,” a horror movie co-written and directed by Chris Stuckmann.

Stuckmann is a movie reviewer and personality on YouTube with more than 2 million subscribers who worked on getting the film made for years and financed it through a Kickstarter campaign. This is impressive, a testament to sticking with it, fighting for what you believe in, all that.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of the movie. Which, frankly, is not as impressive as the story behind the making of it.

It’s OK, a combination of found footage and video and regular ol’ moviemaking that has its moments, certainly, when it gets plenty creepy. But ultimately the story — Stuckmann wrote the script with Sam Liz — doesn’t hold up, particularly as the film concludes, and the characters make some of the dumber horror-movie decisions in recent memory, much worse than the typical “don’t go in the dark basement alone” choices.

What is ‘Shelby Oaks’ about?

The movie begins with a crew making a documentary about the mystery of the “Paranormal Paranoids,” four ghost-hunting types who made videos in which they investigate supernatural goings on. As with any project like that, some viewers loved them, some thought they were frauds. It comes with the territory. (Not surprisingly, Stuckmann knows his way around a YouTube video, even one created for the movie.)

Then, in 2008, the four of them disappeared. Three of them were discovered later, mutilated, but one — Riley Brennan (Sarah Dunn) has never been found. Her case has become legendary over the years, mythical. “Who Took Riley Brennan” shows up in graffiti, not just in the town where she lived, but all over the place.

In part that’s because there is existing footage from the last night anyone saw Riley, and seemingly everyone has seen it. It’s grainy, shaky, and she is obviously terrified at the noises she hears outside the door of the bedroom where she’s standing. Obsessives spot nefarious clues when the film is slowed down, frame by frame, and looked at in close-up.

This is successful, a suspenseful build-up. It also sets the stage for the catch-up documentary the crew is making, which makes sense, given the continued interest. That project offers Mia (Camille Sullivan, quite good), Riley’s older sister, a chance perhaps to finally find her sister, or at least learn more about her disappearance. She’s understandably driven to find her. They were close, and her absence has irretrievably altered her life.

The answers are closer than she thinks. This isn’t some crytpic way of talking about what happens without spoiling it, about some sort of self-realization. Seriously, the answers are like, not all that far from her house.

‘Shelby Oaks’ is creepy but lacks focus

A shocking development gives her access to another tape, with more footage of the night of Riley’s disappearance. It’s difficult to say much more than that without giving too much away. But a lot of horror-movie elements begin to come into play, some more successfully than others.

Bonus points for the great Keith David appearing as a prison warden with some crucial information. Too bad he didn’t stick around for more of the mystery-solving. (I felt the same way about him in “The Lowdown.”) Nice to see Michael Beach, as a detective, too.

It’s when Mia starts actively following clues that things get dumb — or at least disjointed. An old lady (Robin Bartlett) who lives in a rundown, mold-infested house in the middle of the woods, which evidently no one has ever discovered, is creepy, but this leads to more developments that have at best a tangential relationship, plot-wise, to what’s come before. Surprises are part and parcel of a horror movie, but more as jump scares or scary reveals or whatever, not a merry jaunt around another plot thread.

Don’t mistake this for me saying that Stuckmann doesn’t know how to make a movie. He clearly does; in fact, he’s made a lot of them here. If he’d stuck with one it would have worked out better.

‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ review: Rose Byrne makes it a thing of chaotic beauty

‘Shelby Oaks’ 3 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Chris Stuckmann.

Cast: Camille Sullivan, Sarah Durn, Keith David.

Rating: R for violent content/gore, suicide and language.

How to watch: In theaters Friday, Oct. 24.

Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook:facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Media commentary with a side of snark? Sign up for The Watchlist newsletter with Bill Goodykoontz.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ‘Shelby Oaks’ is a creepy horror movie that gets lost in the woods