Skinamarink

Director - Kyle Edward Ball (Heck)

Starring - Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Treteault, and Ross Paul (Moby Dick)

Release Date - 2022

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "In this house..."
format - Streaming (Online Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     The last few years has been good to horror fans. Movies like X, Pearl, The Black Phone, Nope, Hellraiser, and Barbarian are among the few that seriously impressed me I saw them. Hell, X, Hellraiser, The Black Phone, and Hellraiser are among my top films for the year which usually falls to mostly indie horror films. These surprise hits have opened my mind a bit more for theatrical releases and when one catches my eye now I’m more than excited to check them out. Several weeks ago Skinamarink started making rounds on social media with peaked my curiosity. A few days after seeing the initial posts I was sent a screener link from Shudder. When I saw they were behind this one I was even more curious to check it out. However, I was unable to watch it in a timely manner due to a death in the family but I was able to finally check it out. I want to thank Shudder for sending this one over for review. 

      The film follows two small children who awaken to find they are alone with no way to leave their home. They relocate to the living room to watch television and have a sleep over while they wait for their parent’s return but something sinister is lurking in the shadows. 

      I really went into Skinamarink excited after hearing nothing but good things about the film but what I found was a movie that I almost couldn’t finish. This “movie” is one of the most difficult viewing experiences I have ever suffered through. It was slow, drawn out, and abysmal with no atmosphere or tension. The “scary” moments were not effective and the film itself tries too hard to be authentic which creates what I felt like was a dull movie experience. The acting in this one is not acting in a traditional sense. The cast is small and we don’t really get performances from them like you would expect in a normal horror film. Instead, they go about their night as normal kids watching television and reacting to the “scary” things happening around them. The story for this one is straight forward and could have been an effective short. Instead, we get a feature length film where we go great lengths with nothing happening at all except for shadows moving and the like. If the movie had an actual story to follow it would have worked but these drawn out scenes with nothing eventful happening made it damn near impossible to finish. Finally, don’t expect a bloody flick. In fact, don’t expect much of anything if you hit play on this one. Overall, Skinamarink received some serious praise from horror fans but I failed to see anything redeeming about the film. I hate being negative but this is one that needs skipped.