SKINAMARINK: The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of

Home invasion ranks high on this writer’s personal list of phobias. Fewer things are more fear-inducing than imagining an outside force violating the sanctity of your own abode, where you are ostensibly at your safest. But perhaps even higher on that list is the fear of the unknown, the truly inexplicable abstractions that worm their way into your subconscious and fester like a debilitating disease. Some things simply cannot be understood, and the sheer terror that emerges as a result of that is unquantifiable.

So, what would happen if you took the unholy amalgamation between those two and made it into a film? That is precisely what Canadian writer/director Kyle Edward Ball has crafted with Skinamarink, his feature-length debut. Unfolding in a single, domestic residence and shrouded in near total-darkness, Skinamarink is a truly singular experience, one that taps into the dormant fears that lie in our pre-adolescence and brings the unfamiliar to the familiar. It’s the scariest film I’ve seen in years.

In This House…

The year is 1995, and all is seemingly well in the home of Kevin (Lucas Paul) and Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault), two small children of about pre-school age. Their house is presented as a typically cozy suburban dwelling, wherein Lego blocks and other toys lie scattered on the bedroom and hallway floors, and the living room is basked in a perpetual glow of old-timey cartoons running on the television set. The only other noticeable light source originates from the soft haze of the children’s night light, rendering the rest of the house a pitch-black void.

And it is in this void that the strange occurrences begin to happen: first, their parents disappear, followed by the doors and windows of the house, effectively sealing them both inside. The children keep up appearances by following their established routines – bedtime, followed by breakfast in the morning, approximating when they are in the day. But despite these stabs at normalcy, it soon becomes evident that they are not alone in the house, as some kind of malevolent entity has moved in with Kevin and Kaylee, and is attempting to coax them both upstairs.

One of the trappings of being a film critic is overexposure, especially in regard to certain genres. Contemporary horror releases lack a certain fright factor – you’ve seen one jump scare, you’ve seen them all – and few filmmakers in recent memory have been able to deliver on their bone-chilling premises. This makes Skinamarink all the more welcome, as this is a picture truly unlike anything else I’ve seen in the past decade, one best experienced in the darkest, quietest environment possible.

Don’t Look Under the Bed

Right from the opening shot, Ball clearly exhibits a considerable command of atmosphere, presenting Skinamarink as less a film and more an artifact, with an incredibly realized period look and a daunting soundscape, filled with a myriad of hisses and pops, while dialogue is often muffled to the point where subtitles are added to the screen. The cinematography by Jamie McRae is stunning, favoring grainy images of dark hallways and liminal spaces that make up all corners of the house, while very specifically shying away from seeing the faces of our young protagonists (aside from one horrifying exception).

The phantom that pursues Kevin and Kaylee is less defined, but that makes it all the more menacing. What is after the kids? How did it get into the house? Ball is not interested in providing easy answers, he’d prefer to stick you in the shoes of Kevin and Kaylee and experience the hell ride alongside them. The innocuous surroundings add marvelously to the horror, with standout images belonging to a Barbie doll stuck to the ceiling, or a hallway littered with toys suddenly cast out into another dimension. If you’ve ever felt the need to sprint up the stairs of your own home after turning off all the lights in the middle of the night, you might have an inkling of what watching Skinamarink is like.

CONCLUSION: SKINAMARINK

Innovative and unsettling, Skinamarink will certainly not be for everyone’s tastes. The film is glacially paced, and anyone seeking out a reason behind the madness would do best to steer clear of this endeavor. But for anyone else willing to take the plunge into Ball’s film and embrace the terror inside, I cannot offer anything else other than my highest recommendation. It will leave you absolutely haunted.

Skinamarink was released in theaters in the U.S. on January 13^th, 2023, and is set to be released on Shudder’s streaming service later in this year.

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