Skinamarink (2022) (Blu-ray Review)
Director: Kyle Edward Ball
Starring: Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault
RATED: UR/REGION A,B/2:35/1080P/NUMBER OF DISCS 1
AVAILABLE FROM Acorn Media International/Shudder
When two siblings wake up in the middle of the night, their father is nowhere to be found and the windows and doors in their home have vanished… Fuelled by fear and anxiety, the pair take matters into their own hands… With pillows and blankets in hand, they build a den in the living room and watch old videotapes of their favourite cartoons to distract from the scary situation, as they hope and pray that a grown-up will come and save them. But it soon becomes clear that there’s something else there… something beyond their wildest imagination is watching over them. What is it, what does it want and can they survive this unimaginable nightmare?
Skinamarink is by far one of the most bizzar and weird movie experiences I’ve had since probably watching Begotten many moons ago. I have thought about it for a long time after having now seen it, but I just don’t think that’s a good thing regardless of just how many times I’ve now tried to justify the weirdness of it all. From a plot side of things, if I hadn’t of read the plot on the back of the Blu-ray case I’d probably have no idea just what is going on in this movie. Sure, the movie is shot in a weird and spooky way (more on that in a bit), but even with the thing telling me what is supposed to be going on this one leaves too much up in the air and when it does wrap up you might still not have a clue what the hell has just went on before you. I think this movie is going to be a real love it or hate it type of experience and while I am a fan of weird and artsy, I did not have a good time with this at all.
The movie is shot very dream-like. I know that apparently we’re viewing the thing through the eyes of kids, but it gets tiresome. And for the long running time of this one (nearly two hours) the style this is shot is certainly a chore. I’ve been told there’s a certain way to watch this, like watching it in the dark with the sound up high and all that jazz, but who wants to do all that just to enjoy a movie? This might be to some the most creative horror film we’ve seen in a long long time but for me it’s just not my cup of tea. It’s extremely different but that’s not always better and for me it wasn’t a good thing with Skinamarink.
Extras
– Commentary with Writer/Director/Editor Kyle Edward Ball and Director of Photography Jamie McRae
– Subtitles and Audio Description
