Skinamarink (2023)

 

 

Streaming Service: Shudder

Movie Name/Year: Skinamarink (2023)

Genre: Horror

Length:  1h 40min

Rating: Unrated

Production/Distribution: ERO Picture Company, IFC Midnight, Shudder, BayView Entertainment

Director: Kyle Edward Ball

Writer: Kyle Edward Ball

Actors: Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault, Ross Paul, Jaime Hill

 

IMDb Blurb: 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.

 

Cat’s Point of View:

I’d been on the fence about watching Skinamarink from the outset. When we viewed the trailer during our stream prior to February’s Top 20 list, there were red flags and it didn’t really tell us much about the film. 

I understand why now. There wasn’t much to show or tell beyond what did appear in the cryptic trailer. There wasn’t much to the movie, itself. 

I am feeling frustrated with myself because I don’t like tearing down things. Offering negative feedback without any positive feels almost like bullying to me and I abhor that. I am finding it rather difficult at the moment to contribute something positive regarding Skinamarink. 

 

Skinamarink came across to me as some sort of experimental art-house horror film. Between the odd camera angles, the intentionally grainy and gritty aspect to the visuals, and the lack of a background score it felt like it was trying too hard to offer something different as ‘elevated’ but missed the mark. 

I’ll be honest that my energy reserves have been rather depleted because I’m in the middle of Mardi Gras and it’s a really busy time of year for me. Long stretches of silence, darkness, and nearly nothing happening on screen simply put me to sleep. I literally had to watch Skinamarink more than once - and on the second watch-through, I had to rewind many sections of the screener because I kept nodding off. 

 

 

There were some really creepy elements to Skinamarink. The fact that whatever was happening was affecting children amped up the unsettling factor. I get that the ‘bad things’ were happening off-screen to allow audiences to use their imaginations to add to the horror. The movie on the whole just fell short due to the overall oddness and sparseness. There’s very little dialogue, and what was said was often in whispers or faint murmurings in the background.  

Had there been more of a story front-and-center and more of a traditional treatment to it (i.e. seeing actors full bodies and things happening on-screen rather than off in the darkness) it might have held my attention better. Skinamarink was not ADHD-friendly in that way. 

Unfortunately, I can’t think of anyone that I’d want to recommend Skinamarink to - unless they were having trouble sleeping, considering this was effectively a cinematic sleep aid. 

If you’d like to give it a shot and form your own opinion, however, Skinamarink is available on Shudder. 

 

 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 72%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 44%

Metascore – None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 5.1/10

 

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 2/5

Trust the Dice: Parental Advisory Rating – PG-13

 

Movie Trailer: