By Robert Scucci
| Published
The most effective horror films play on our fear of the unknown, and I can’t think of a film that evokes feelings of unease like 2022. Skinamarink. With almost no dialogue – and even fewer truly focused and well-lit shots – Skinamarink creates an atmosphere that is difficult to shake, even a few days after the final credits. Inspired by the analog horror movement that is slowly dominating the YouTube landscape (The Mandela catalog And No transit route are great examples that will ruin your life), Skinamarink has a similar aesthetic to some of the more unconventional web series doing the rounds, but has the uncanny ability to hold its own as a feature film.
Now that I think about it, “strange” is the perfect way to describe Skinamarink.
Skinamarink’s plot is irrelevant
I may be speaking hyperbole when I say that. Skinamarink’s the plot doesn’t matter much, but I can confidently say that its storytelling isn’t as important as its cinematography.
Writer/director Kyle Edward Ball tells his story through feelings, images, and sparsely placed bumps in the night rather than taking a more conventional approach involving dialogue or narration devolving into any form of exposition. Skinamarink’s the feeling of terror is shown, not told, through random enigmatic shots of ceilings, off-center shots of the interior of a house, minimal dialogue of two frightened children hiding in a house that slowly transforms into different shapes and a disembodied voice that tries to manipulate them into doing what they want by pretending to be their parents.
A simple story
Skinamarink centers on a 4-year-old boy named Kevin (Lucas Paul) and his 6-year-old sister, Kaylee (DaliRose Tetreault). Hearing a phone call from their father (Ross Paul), it is clear that Kevin suffered a head trauma after falling down the stairs during a sleepwalking episode. The father reassures his interlocutors on the phone by telling them that Kevin is fine and that he does not need to go to the hospital.
From this moment on, Skinamarink exists in a liminal space between this world and an unknown place that you probably won’t want to visit anytime soon.
Kevin and Kaylee wake up in the middle of the night to strange noises in the house. Deciding it’s best for them to stay together, they venture downstairs to the family room so they can watch cartoons together. The brother and sister try to stay calm even though they know they are not alone, that someone or something is watching them. The doors disappear and reappear, and Kaylee is drawn upstairs where her mother (Jaime Hill) and father speak in a cryptic, monotone voice that asks her to look under the bed or close her eyes.
Seeking refuge again below, the house of Skinamarink continues to play tricks on Kevin and Kaylee.
Perspective is everything
Filmed on a budget of just $15,000, Skinamarink doesn’t have any fancy special effects. With most scenes being lit only by a bright television screen (according to Ball) and a disproportionate amount of off-center shots complementing the film’s visuals, I liken the viewing experience to having an attack of sleep paralysis when you’re dreaming of a malevolent voice or character in your room, but you are powerless to act against it. As the metallic taste of sleep lingers in your mouth, you try to shake off the nightmare, but the more you try to resist it, the more aggressively your fears push back.
Streaming Skinarink
Located in 1995, Skinamarink evokes the feeling of being left alone at home with your siblings for the first time while your parents go out to dinner with friends. Suddenly the refrigerator motor starts, and for all you knew, it wasn’t actually the refrigerator, but rather an ax murderer trying to gain access to your house through the crawl space. That glowing red dot in the corner of the entertainment center that you see every day is now a blinking demon eye that won’t break its otherworldly gaze with you.
While Ball’s first film is certainly open to interpretation and I have my own thoughts on the film’s ending that I won’t say here to avoid spoilers, the only thing I can tell you for certain is that this movie will stay with you for days. .
Just for its atmosphere, Skinamarink deserves a lot of praise as it’s one of the scariest films I’ve seen in a very long time. If you are ready to experience dreamlike horrors Skinamarink has to offer, you can stream the title on Hulu as of this writing.
