“Skinamarink”: Underrated? Or Over Hated?

6 out of 10

Spoilers Ahead

Internet Photo

Horror films are some of the hardest films to pull off. When the average person thinks of horror, they think of Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, Chucky, etc. 

Unlike more well-known horror films, “Skinamarink,” does not even give the monster of the film any name. This factor is one of the reasons why this film is controversial on social media; its extreme experimental aspects have turned away a lot of mainstream audiences. 

The main turn-off for people is its lack of a cohesive story. As a result, some are left very confused after watching it.

On the other hand, this movie is being praised for doing new things and revitalizing the horror genre. When I saw how many mixed opinions there were about this movie, I could not help but want to watch it.

The plot of “Skinamarink” is, to say the least, pretty convoluted.  

The movie focuses on two siblings, Kaylee and Kevin, who both wake up in the middle of the night to then realize their dad is gone and that the windows and doors have disappeared from their house.

From this point on, the movie focuses on how the two siblings handle the entity that is in their home, terrorizing them.

This film does a lot of good things. By not having a traditional story structure or traditional cinematography, a lot of the story is left up to interpretation.

Is the entity that is terrorizing the children real? Or is it part of the children’s imagination? There is no set answer.

Usually, a story has either a three-act or five-act structure. This results in very little of the story being left up to interpretation. But for “Skinamarink,” there is no structure or story arcs, so the audience is able to piece together their own story.

Piecing together my own story was made easier by the cinematography not showing any of the things that take place in the movie. I had to use my imagination to try and figure out what was going on.

On the other hand, there are things about this movie that I do not like at all.

For one, this movie is one hour and forty minutes. Usually, this is the standard run time of a movie, but for a movie like this, it becomes very hard to keep focus.

The lack of a traditional story makes this movie drag on and becomes very boring at some points.

Specifically, in the middle when the entity is being introduced and the camera stays focused on some walls for over twenty minutes. 

A lot of the movie involves hearing what is going on in the other room, which is not very engaging. 

Overall, “Skinamarink” was enjoyable to watch, but this film would have been much better as a forty-five-minute short, not one that is well over an hour.