Time: 100 Minutes
Cast:
Lucas Paul as Kevin
Dali Rose Tetreault as Kaylee
Ross Paul as Kevin and Kaylee’s father
Jaime Hill as Kevin and Kaylee’s mother
Director: Kyle Edward Bell

Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.

I had been hearing about Skinamarink for a little. It was a much talked about new horror movie with a unique directing style, which has received mixed responses from audiences. I definitely like the movie but I’m not quite loving it. 

There’s a lot with the movie which will prevent people from really getting into it. The plot is relatively small and simple; two young children find that they are in the house alone without their parents and there may be some sort of presence inside the house. That’s it. That being said, the approach to the storytelling isn’t for everyone. First of all, much of the movie largely consists of static and minimalist shots of mostly nothing happening. It’s very abstract and there’s not much setup or resolution to the plot. The pacing is very slow, and the movie demands your complete patience and immersion. If you find yourself wanting to tap out in the first 15 minutes, the rest of the movie will be a chore for you. However, I do think much of the movie is effective. It really taps into the fear of the unknown and preys on that really well, putting you in the perspectives of the main characters. After watching the movie, I looked up some other reactions, and people have found some deeper interpretations (deeper than the initial premise would suggest anyways). I found that there might be some more to it than I thought at first, suggesting something more sinister with some unsettling implications, especially about the main characters’ family life. However, the movie doesn’t entirely work for me. Skinamarink is a fairly short movie at an hour and 40 minutes long, and yet I think that runtime was too long for the film. As unique, creative and unsettling as the movie is, the novelty of its style does wear thin, and much of it gets repetitive and samey. It is also very slowly paced, and I was on board with it until a certain point. While it sets the tone at the beginning and it does have some stand out moments near the end, I think it’s the middle act where it really drags the most. So when it arrived at the end of the first hour, it felt like it was wearing out its welcome. The tension that I felt went away as I was just waiting for the movie to wrap up. A much shorter runtime would’ve held the tension and kept me locked in from beginning to end. I looked at the director’s previous work and he has made some short films, many of which are recreating people’s nightmares, which ranged from 5 minutes to half an hour in length. I haven’t watched them, but they seem to have the same approach and approach as his feature film debut. Again, I admire this, but it definitely lends itself to a runtime no longer than an hour.

This is Kyle Edward Ball’s feature film debut, and he definitely showed himself as a unique and creative director. The low budget adds a lot to the feel of the movie. The cinematography mostly consists of changing shots between different places around the house, mostly of nothingness or darkness that’s hard to interpret. I liked the look of it, it’s very grainy, dark and distorted, and has lots of shots of dark hallways which keep you on edge. There is some creepy and ambiguous imagery too. The audio is very unsettling, and never allows a moment for you to feel comfortable. The technical elements all come together to make a movie that feels cursed, unsettling and reminiscent of a nightmare that you would have. It really captures the feeling of being a child and looking into the darkness of your house and seeing things that may or may not be there. The effectiveness of the movie really depends on how immersed you are; you need to watch this in a dark room, a movie theatre would be best.

Skinamarink is an experimental, atmospheric and unnerving horror movie that’s uniquely directed, even if it’s a bit overlong and loses its effect after the first hour. I respect and appreciate the movie more than I liked it. It’s not for everyone but if you like horror movies and keep your expectations in check, I recommend trying it out.