MrMoviesETC Reviews: "Skinamarink" (2023)

MRMOVIESETC REVIEWS:

"Skinamarink" (2023)

Unless you’ve had your head so far up your ass that you can taste the hair on your head on the back of your tongue, you have likely noticed that “Skinamarink” has been the talk of the horror town for the last month. Directed by Kyle Edward Bell on a shoestring budget of $15,000, “Skinamarink” came about via an audience participation project on Bell’s YouTube page where he asked his viewers to submit to him some of their most memorable nightmares in film form, and garnered the idea for “Skinamarink” from the film using some of the most common identities from each nightmare. In case you were wondering what this film was about - not spoiler - wink wink, nudge nudge.

As it turns out, and given the marketing for “Skinamarink”, not all-too-surprisingly, there’s not much I can say about the film itself in terms of its own description. A bulk of the film relies upon copy and paste editing, a mix of intrusive and subtle sounds, the occasional muffled voice of two children, movement of objects by forces off-camera, and shadow and light play. If you’ve read the synopsis either online or on Shudder, you get the basic idea - two young children wake up to find that their father is missing, and as they stay awake watching television trying to piece that mystery together, there’s a possibly nefarious entity in the house attempting to antagonize them. All while this is happening, the film is attempting to beg the question of the audience - is it all real or imagination? 

Well, you can draw your own conclusions on that one, but I have a few questions I can pose instead:

Is the film any good?

From an appreciative and execution standpoint - yes, I do feel it was a pretty good film.

Is the film scary?

It’s complicated.

In the traditional sense of the word “scary”, I would have to say that it wasn’t scary for me, personally. I didn’t have at any point a sense of fear or dread. However, is there a “but’ in there? Yes, there absolutely is a “but” in there. While I didn’t feel a sense of fear, what I did feel, at times in heightened levels, was anxiety. It took me nearly by surprise, probably because I wasn’t paying close attention at first, but before I knew it, my heart rate had elevated significantly, my palms were sweaty, and my right leg was doing the constant bounce-bounce-bounce thing it always does when I’m anxious or nervous. I know exactly why I was feeling this way, but I don’t find it appropriate to divulge here because the viewing experience may be so vastly different for each individual, and for anybody that might read this, I don’t want to taint how it’s received. 

It was also after I came to grips with the anxiety that I was feeling that I began to appreciate the genius of the film’s concept, as inadvertent as it may have been. The way I absorbed the idea of “Skinamarink” was that it is a portrayal of nightmares, and given the process that was done to conceive it, that would make logical sense. My nightmares generally aren’t scary, but are instead, anxious. I get a feeling of claustrophobia and tingling, and an all-around sensation that I’m about to be crushed. I have to say that once that feeling started kicking in while watching “Skinamarink”, I found I didn’t give the slightest shit about the kids or the entity. All I cared about was how the contrasting elements that were rather brilliantly orchestrated in the surrounding environments of the house near and away from the two kids gave me the uncomfortable sensation of being underwater with no oxygen mask. I don’t know if that’s both a compliment and a criticism in the same breath, but either way, it’s a takeaway I’ve not had with a film in so long that I fail to remember what would have given something similar before. 

On that note, seeing as I didn’t give a single damn about the kids and their plight after a certain point in the movie, the aggravating presence triggering my anxiousness did come to a full stop with about 20 minutes left in the movie, and it was then I started feeling detached from it all. Sure, for some the big climax will be shiver-worthy, but for me it didn’t amount to much more than a hangover after the good buzz had evaporated. That being the case, it’s not likely a film I’m going to watch again, or at least not for quite some time, because I will feel that letdown coming.

To sign off on this one, no, I don’t think “Skinamarink” is an arthouse masterpiece or so off-the-wall creative that it’ll stand alone against the past, present, and future. What it certainly is, though, from where I stand, is a very well-made project crafted from a fun online tactic, and a project that does genuinely show that millions upon millions of dollars in budget CANNOT buy you a good movie, nor can it buy the courage to present such a thing without said bigger budget. It’s already garnered plenty of love and dislike, but I’m willing to bet no matter which way your pendulum swings, you will remember it.

“Skinamarink”: 8/10