31 Days of Horror 2023 Day 10 Skinamarink

 

TITLE-Skinamarink

SOURCE-Shudder

Every few years it feels like a new experimental horror film comes out and divides the horror fandom. This years I am sure is Skinamarink. 

Somehow when this was on the festival circuit a good quality copy leaked and word of mouth blew it up into the MUST SEE horror film of early 2023.

I saw a few reviews that avoided spoilers. Stuff like odd and nightmare/dreamlike were used to describe the movie.

Looked of course Shudder got the streaming rights. So one day back in  late Feb I started the movie up. What felt like 10 hours later it was over. The film is only 90 odd minutes but that first viewing felt like it was at least 8 hours long.Didn't help that every 15 minutes I would pause the movie to see how much of this turd was left to watch.

As I was making up my list of 31 things to watch this October Skinamarink popped back up in my mind. "Give it a second viewing. Some movies majorly improve on repeat viewings."

That is what I just finished doing. The Film DIDN'T improve.

Shot for a really cheap price,and it shows,this is a Canadian indie film. The director kept a log of his nightmares and noticed a trend in them. So used that and made this movie.

You rarely see anyone in the film. When you do it is like a foot or their back. I can remember only one scene where we see someones face. 

Kevin falls down the stairs but is ok. A young brother and sister are sent downstairs and told to not come back up. After what could be hours or could be days one of them goes back up and finds their parents. They are sitting on opposite sides of the bed. Then after the kid closes their eyes the mother disappears.

That night,hard to tell if it is day or night,the kid hears their mothers voice calling from the dark hallway.

Stuff starts to disappear. Or gets moved around.

The ending solves or explains nothing and the turd of a film is over.

This is black and white. The sound is so low that even with my speakers cranked I could barely hear the dialogue. Best to watch it with subtitles on. Cause while the dialogue is low there is just odd sudden noises that are SUPER LOUD!

The camera shots are exciting things like a 5 minute shot of the upper corner of a room. While in the distant we can faintly hear cartoons playing on the tv.

Now I am one that loves odd weird movies. Lots of the time I rather a film not explain everything to me. Giving me a chance to figure stuff out using clues in the film and context. For example I love David Lynch and besides Dune have enjoyed everyone of his movies. But in Lynch's films you can feel there is a deep story being told. 

Skinamarink feels like oddness and being vague just to be odd and vague. Sure after seeing it the first time I went and read a pile of reviews explaining what the reviewer thought the film was about. Stuff like the death of your parents making someone no matter what their age feeling like a small child. To maybe the film is about the end of the world.

All I know is I have wasted a bit over 3 hours watching this pile of crap.

Skinamarink gets a D-