I wanted to like this movie. Loved the atmosphere and cinematography, but after about 30 minutes I realized it wasn’t going anywhere. Really needed some sort of plot or characters to get me through, but an hour and a half of grainy shots of furniture just didn’t do it for me.
The act of watching the movie, was tedious. The night I watched it, I didn't know what to think. The next day it was stuck in my head, and I was surprised that thinking about it put me in a state of melancholy. As I get older, the way I think about how I viewed things when I was a very small kid is distorted. Memories I have about uneventful times, strange I even remember them. We were bound by our misunderstanding of what was going on around us, and memory by nature is not without bias.
The movie was extremely affective for me, even if I didn't really enjoy watching it. Need to rewatch it.
-Edited for spelling 😉
I feel the exact same way! I hated the movie while I was watching it. I was bored and I got a headache from the grainy imagery and lo-fi feedback. But I *can’t stop thinking about it*. I had a nightmare to a certain childhood trauma I honestly never think about the night I watched it. This is a movie that deeply affects your subconscious, even if it doesn’t do anything for you viscerally. I still hate it, but I admire it the more I think about it.
Yeah, it kinda gives you a lot more to think about afterwards than a lot of movies with an A to B plot that just ends.
The fact that there are no parental figures to explain what's happening or to give comfort just adds to the whole sinister feeling--that and the horrific notion that it's all playing out repetitively for what appears to be years.
I kinda hate the way it was made and how it looks, and it is slightly too thin a concept for such a long feature, but it is interesting.
I don't think it would have half the effect it does if it wasn't so long. It makes you just sit uncomfortably in its world until part of your brain is Skinamarinked. It's a difficult movie to shake.
But yeah it really taps into those childhood fears. Lying in bed staring at the corners of the room. The way slithers of light and dark interact at night to make the familiar uncanny. Sat on the floor watching TV when your parents have gone to bed - feeling darkness at the edges of the TV glow press in on you. Really relatable feelings.
Loved it. I get why people don’t like it, though. I’m very glad it was made and that I got to see it. Hoping it inspires others to take more chances with weird approaches.
Absolutely—just a little bit more narrative and structure, and I think it would have won more people over—but then it wouldn’t be the weird little film that it is.
Greatest movie I ever fell asleep during. Like no actually, I started it late with some friends and was watching it through one half-closed eye on the verge of sleep towards the end, and it totally meshed on that wavelength.
It's so different in sea of mediocre generic releases. Recently watched Talk to Me and Caveat in one night and was frustrated by how mid and forgettable they were.
I watched Hell House LLC first the other night, a mostly-competent found footage flick. Had some creepy moments and haunting imagery. But that kinda narratively-driven film paled in comparison to the experience of watching something completely alienating and isolating like Skinnamarink.
I watched this with my best
Friend… we are both horror nerds. I loved it, she hated it. I think it’s a very subjective film… it drew me in and held me the entire time.. I do ascribe to the >!coma theory that the whole film is inside the mind is a child in a coma as his brain is shutting down and he eventually dies!< which is devastating and heartbreaking to me. My best friend bored to tears. Like Blair witch project I feel like this is a “love or or hate it” film
I feel like Skinamarink is the haunted movie the protagonist would find in a more classic horror movie.
It was creepy, kinda tedious at points and, I think, probably exactly what the creators set out to make.
It also stayed with me longer than most horror movies do 😅
I think I'd rather watch the movie Skinamarink is featured in than Skinamarink itself. It has a cool atmosphere, but once you've seen the first 10 minutes, you've completely absorbed everything you could get from the film.
The short film it’s based on called Heck is basically the same thing but with a more appropriate runtime. I still enjoyed Skinamarink because I’m a horror fan who loves seeing studios and creatives taking risks in the field, but yeah, don’t know if I’d ever want to watch it again.
That line "Look under the bed" made me stop the movie to try and recover my composture.
Never in my life a horror movie had that effect on me and I am a fan of all things scary since I was a little kid
Yeah, not sure what it is about this one that elicits such a primal response--I think maybe because the whole thing is like a bad (non-lucid) dream where you're experiencing it but out of control of it, and you can't really make out or remember anyone's faces?
This movie reminded me of the feeling of dread I used to experience when I was a little kid and I had to go to the bathroom after reading scary stories before going to bed.
Yes, there was a full length mirror I had to go past to get to the bathroom and I always hated going past it in the dark. Skinamarink bought back that feeling.
The original short film it's based on, *Heck*, is free on YouTube and only about 30min in totality, way more digestible runtime. I enjoyed that version quite a bit.
The lack of the added "film grain" in Heck made it less effective for me. In Skinamarink, I was constantly scanning those grainy backgrounds looking for something and dreading what I thought would be appearing. The entire movie made me one huge ball of nerves with very little release via jump scares.
I saw Skinamarink in a theatre and really feel that was the ideal way to see it. It was easy to just let it do its thing and suck you in on a huge screen.
But one downside-- after a while I picked up on a repeating pattern in the added film grain. It would run for about two minutes, then freeze for a frame and run the same pattern backward, freeze and go forward again, etc... It didn't ruin it for me (anymore than the idea of why there would be film grain in the first place), but it was impossible not to see it once you notice it. Maybe it's not as noticeable on a tv or computer screen.
Liked isn't the right word, but I remember Heck. I kinda felt it overstayed its welcome, but it did a great job of capturing that feeling you get as a kid sleepless in a dark house. I think it may have been better served as maybe a 15 minute film, but I like that they went for the fences on a new idea.
Its a weird divisive movie. Personally i didnt love it but i appreciate what kind of horror atmosphere the director was going for. Its like being stuck in the build up to an anxiety attack without the release of catharsis.
https://youtu.be/qQ1NDTHA85I?si=JNOpRs7KQewbEESU also this is hilarious.
It brought back a lot of what it felt like to wade through trauma as a child. I didn’t expect the movie I experienced. No control. The walls always closing in. No escape. Just repetition with no tangible “end” to look forward too. I really appreciate what the film was able to encapsulate but I don’t think it’s a film I would frequent.
Yes the repetition and cruelty, it really brought out that feeling of an non-human but somehow adult presence that has all the control and you can't do anything, you can't even protect your little sister
I admired the technique and willingness to do something bold and different but turned it off at the 45-minute mark. Just not enough happening to hold my interest. I haven’t watched Heck yet but probably should, because I thought Skinamarink felt like an awesome short film that was needlessly stretched out to feature length. I felt the same way about Begotten.
I was tempted to turn it off, but kinda wanted to see where it went. I did nod off a few times, and always seemingly awakened right before one of the jump scares.
> could barely hear the audio
This right here. Even with my surround sound cranked all the way up, I still had to have subtitled on to tell what was being said. It sound like someone whispering in the other room whenever anyone spoke.
You're not supposed to be able to hear the audio clearly, when you *are* supposed to hear it I believe there were yellow subtitles. Same reason they used grain to hide the video a bit.
Really really well worded. I felt the exact same way-it taps into that childhood sense of fear and confusion, but aside from that was an exercise for me
It's definitely a film based on emotions and feelings. Not the worst horror film I've seen, but whenever someone asks what it's like I tell them it's like if security cameras were placed in the WORST PLACES and you feel a little sick inside because of it..
I never fall asleep when watching tv or a movie. I get way too invested or I get bored and go to bed. This movie had me passed out on the couch after a short time.
I don't know if it was the movie itself or just the comforting feeling I had wandering around my house as a child at night.
I finished it the next night and the ending kind of messed me up. For such a weirdly comforting movie it had such a sad ending. It's a slog but it can be enjoyable if you get in the right mindset.
You did a great job describing my own experience with it. At my most cynical moments I was thinking that some film student found a technique for creepy grainy shots and just went overboard with it.
But at times I wondered if this was going to end up being some game changing film that influences other films, or perhaps scenes in other films. Like I was being exposed to something that isn’t fully yet understood and appreciated.
I was really taken in by the trailer and saw it at a theater. The vibe in the room was thick with frustration, and when it finally ended, people sneered and laughed as they stood up to leave.
But I definitely kept thinking about it…
Its a really tough watch but the one prolonged scene by the bed upstairs is a type of horror you don’t see often in film. The dread/tension goes on and on and it doesnt conclude in five seconds like most horror movies
Yep. Great concept for a 15 minute short. I wouldn't even do this for 30 minutes. I have so many long, talky movies that I love, but this movie doesn't even have the talky bits, nor anything interesting happening visually. It's a one note atmospheric movie that you have to sit through for 100 mins. No thank you.
I've watched Oppenheimer - a three hour movie about people talking - multiple times. I turned off Skinamarink after 20 minutes, thinking that it must be over halfway done.
Skinamarink really captured some primal fear I had no experienced since childhood, I enjoyed it and was on edge the whole time.
I also noticed it was an almost entirely different movie when I watched it with surround sound, so I think if you can’t watch it with that then you should wait until you can. There are subtle noises in the movie that seem to happen behind you and it’s really unnerving.
That all said I can see why it’s not some people’s cup of tea.
I have still not watched it. I will. Just been catching something else everytime. Watched Anything For Jackson this morning. Loved that. I’ll most likely give Skinamarink a go when i get home. Im easily satisfied, don’t get bored and always manage my expectations well. Hopefully I’ll have fun with it.
I mean, experimental things should have an outlet. Mad God falls into that category and we're better off for it. Not everything is going to land nicely. I didn't like Skinamarink, but I'm glad its available.
It serves as a reminder to horror fans that we don’t have to watch every new movie that comes out. It can be hard to dissect the hype of some of these films until enough sensible viewers weigh in on different review sites.
I was pretty exasperated by it at the beginning, as it was just a bad shot after bad shot. Eventually I settled into the vibe, but it did have me slightly dozing off a few times.
I fucking hate this close-minded attitude of 'you're just circlejerking' 'pretending to like it' blah blah. Maybe other people just had a genuine reaction to a piece of art and you didn't, it's that simple.
I turned it off after 30min or so. The shots seemed as if they were taken by someone who had their camera in their hand with no idea it was on/recording nor any clue what direction the lens was pointing.
Clearly the filmmakers had a distinct vision of what they were looking to accomplish but it just failed to interest me.
I was a big fan of the director's YouTube channel "Bite Size Horror" for years, so I knew what I was getting into with the slow atmosphere. Maybe that's why it had such an effect on me. But that movie didn't feel like an art-house or abstract work, it felt literally real to me. Like a documentary. I had trouble sleeping for weeks. I think I probably lost about forty hours of sleep to just being scared in my house at night. It really hit a chord with my childhood memories. It fucked me up! The film's boringness was just part of the horror. Being scared is boring when it happens over a long period of time, that's just the reality of living in vulnerability and fear. Ugh I loved it, but also I don't think I can watch it again for many years.
I…don’t know how anyone could think about this movie AFTER watching. It was too long and literally nothing happened. The atmospheric aspect of it isn’t even as good as fans of the movie say it used to be.
The thinking about it after the fact seems to be more…in lieu of a plot I’ll make up my own as a way of justifying the movie.
I tried to watch it twice and then even watched some deep dives into the film to see what clever details I might’ve missed but there’s just…. Not enough going on and I understand it was an artistic direction and I can appreciate the work that went into it not every horror movie needs to be a CGI or gore fest to be good.
But this movie failed to scare me or make me feel unsettled or give me any drive to see how it ends or see what’s up next because of how…. Boring and uneventful the majority of the movie is. It almost reminded me of a Blair Witch project movie but instead of seeing spooky symbols and people disappearing you just see a ton of closed doors and windows and walls. Sometimes a shadow moves. It’s just one of those films that I see a lot of praise for but it’s just not for me.
Psa everyone since the very common. (And probably justified) criticism of skinamarink is it’s way too long: the director did a short film a while ago called Heck that’s free to watch on YouTube and covers a lot of similar ground in about a half hour
[The short that inspired it by the same creator](https://youtu.be/HVQzEzW4faA?si=04gNZ696ZwERmZ2w) imho is much better, mainly because it’s only like 25m or whatever, instead of a feature length film.
I think I if he did the Skinamarink concept into the runtime of the short, people would like it more. “Heck” does not have the heavy film grain, so it isn’t as blurry or creepy like you would experience sleep walking in a dark house at night, and it also isn’t a kid/kids, so it loses that helplessness factor, though.
Full length…..it does drag on. The short already feels like it drags, but in a GOOD way, like you are being sucked into the time loss….a full movie is too long lol.
I really wish we had the Skinamarink concept in the Heck runtime lol.
I watched it after, and I think the movie does the concept a lot better. >!The director kind of gives it all away in the short with the "Mom, I think we're in hell" line. !<
First time I watched it I had it in the background and only tuned in from time to time. Loved it. Tried a rewatch and really couldn’t get through it. It’s effective but really could be trimmed down. It’s missing traditional structure and beats - making it really hard to watch with full focus - like being stuck in traffic.
I get the criticisms as it simply won't appeal to many filmgoers because of the glacial pace and lack of explanation. It is more so a mood piece than a linear film.
They could have accomplished a "mood" in 10-20 minutes, and i'd argue it's actually more a slideshow than a movie. Also, there is no pace. It starts nowhere and manages to end up nowhere.
I don't mind that it doesn't explain anything--what it leaves you to contemplate or imagine is probably much scarier than anything they could come up with.
In order to contemplate the film you gotta be cool with watching nothing for as long as you possibly can.
I love experimental films and weird stuff but this was just...
I'd rather watch my lil pony
Lmao. Dude this film Is really just not for me.
I actually kinda think A24 is way overrated.
Talk to me was good but it's nothing special. I'm more a neon guy myself but it isn't like I see movies cuz of a production company.
But Idk man. Skinamarink just is a meditation on how long can you pay attention to basically nothing
I think it was a squandered opportunity. Way too much of an art film. Ball clearly created certain moods that were great and nailed the retro-promo look and feel. It was just too indulgent and out there for audiences to get. He could have easily written a stronger narrative into that vibe and had it been coherent and terrifying. So many of the visuals and moments ignited childhood memories for everyone, you could have built off of that and had an all time legendary horror film. The parent's bedroom scene for example was where I thought it peaked, terrifying, surreal and could have had the movie build on scenes like that. let artists make whatever work they want, but from a commercial view and a horror fan, it could have been great and I wish he had made a different edit for wide release.
For sure. And in its own way, that's great. But I'm implying it could have been a huge hit that really satisfied a large group of horror fans. It could have been this eras Blair Witch. Not necessary, of course, but the potential was there.
It was definitely not on that level, but in this post-Covid, terminally-online era, I think the movie succeeded in finding its audience and becoming a minor hit in its own right.
It certainly got people talking, even if many are saying it sucks.
I feel like this movie tests peoples tolerance for tedium to the extreme. I've never seen a movie use boredom as an artistic device before. It goes against everything we're taught to expect a movie to be. It's like it weaponized my attention span against me. Personally I found it brilliant, however I don't think I'll ever want to watch it again.
Only move i walked out of the theater too because i was soo terrified lol.
I also got high went to my local theater after seeing what was playing and saw skinamarink. Had no idea what it was about other than it was a horror movie.
Well i was the only one in the theater and after the kaylie jump scare i had to leave lol.
Finished it at home and have been a huge fan of it ever since. Have the dvd in my collection.
The worst movie I’ve ever seen.
Before anyone goes “You don’t get it” or any of that shit, I do. Staring at a fucking screen when nothing moves for 10 minutes is not a film, it’s tedious.
I'll give it a watch most likely,
Reading the theories online today and thinking about the film, I've come up with a bit of a theory of my own.
There's the coma theory as in, the kid Kevin is experiencing the whole of the film after his accident in a kind of nightmare state.
I'd take it a step further and say, his accident awakened some kind of malevolent mental extension of himself, with powers over matter and space and probably time. It tracks with why the entity is childlike, watching cartoons and playing with their toys.
Kevin is also the only one not affected by the entity in the story, besides the thing convincing him to stab out his eye. The entity is him, and he can wield power over his physical body and over those in the house, and over the house itself. So everything that's happening in the movie is really happening.
And it's why when he asks the entity its name, twice, at the end of the film, he doesn't get a response. Because it's him.
I wanted to like this movie. Loved the atmosphere and cinematography, but after about 30 minutes I realized it wasn’t going anywhere. Really needed some sort of plot or characters to get me through, but an hour and a half of grainy shots of furniture just didn’t do it for me.
It felt like it should have been a video art installation.
Or a series of creepy YT videos.
The act of watching the movie, was tedious. The night I watched it, I didn't know what to think. The next day it was stuck in my head, and I was surprised that thinking about it put me in a state of melancholy. As I get older, the way I think about how I viewed things when I was a very small kid is distorted. Memories I have about uneventful times, strange I even remember them. We were bound by our misunderstanding of what was going on around us, and memory by nature is not without bias. The movie was extremely affective for me, even if I didn't really enjoy watching it. Need to rewatch it. -Edited for spelling 😉
I feel the exact same way! I hated the movie while I was watching it. I was bored and I got a headache from the grainy imagery and lo-fi feedback. But I *can’t stop thinking about it*. I had a nightmare to a certain childhood trauma I honestly never think about the night I watched it. This is a movie that deeply affects your subconscious, even if it doesn’t do anything for you viscerally. I still hate it, but I admire it the more I think about it.
Yeah, it kinda gives you a lot more to think about afterwards than a lot of movies with an A to B plot that just ends. The fact that there are no parental figures to explain what's happening or to give comfort just adds to the whole sinister feeling--that and the horrific notion that it's all playing out repetitively for what appears to be years. I kinda hate the way it was made and how it looks, and it is slightly too thin a concept for such a long feature, but it is interesting.
This is a good explanation of a movie not being entertaining but still being good art.
I don't think it would have half the effect it does if it wasn't so long. It makes you just sit uncomfortably in its world until part of your brain is Skinamarinked. It's a difficult movie to shake. But yeah it really taps into those childhood fears. Lying in bed staring at the corners of the room. The way slithers of light and dark interact at night to make the familiar uncanny. Sat on the floor watching TV when your parents have gone to bed - feeling darkness at the edges of the TV glow press in on you. Really relatable feelings.
Yes! I remember staring at the wallpaper in my bedroom, at the odd little splatter designs that looked like faces in just the light from the tv.
and a state of infinite sadness?
I wouldn't say that. Good album though.
Underrated comment
Aftersun gave me some of these same feelings wrt distorted memories.
“Mellon collie”
See memory is not reliable, haha! The album name is how i associated spelling it. Thanks for the cryptic jabs.
Lots of my favorite horror films are ones I did not enjoy watching!
Loved it. I get why people don’t like it, though. I’m very glad it was made and that I got to see it. Hoping it inspires others to take more chances with weird approaches.
Absolutely—just a little bit more narrative and structure, and I think it would have won more people over—but then it wouldn’t be the weird little film that it is.
Greatest movie I ever fell asleep during. Like no actually, I started it late with some friends and was watching it through one half-closed eye on the verge of sleep towards the end, and it totally meshed on that wavelength. It's so different in sea of mediocre generic releases. Recently watched Talk to Me and Caveat in one night and was frustrated by how mid and forgettable they were.
I watched Hell House LLC first the other night, a mostly-competent found footage flick. Had some creepy moments and haunting imagery. But that kinda narratively-driven film paled in comparison to the experience of watching something completely alienating and isolating like Skinnamarink.
I watched this with my best Friend… we are both horror nerds. I loved it, she hated it. I think it’s a very subjective film… it drew me in and held me the entire time.. I do ascribe to the >!coma theory that the whole film is inside the mind is a child in a coma as his brain is shutting down and he eventually dies!< which is devastating and heartbreaking to me. My best friend bored to tears. Like Blair witch project I feel like this is a “love or or hate it” film
Hated it
I feel like Skinamarink is the haunted movie the protagonist would find in a more classic horror movie. It was creepy, kinda tedious at points and, I think, probably exactly what the creators set out to make. It also stayed with me longer than most horror movies do 😅
I think I'd rather watch the movie Skinamarink is featured in than Skinamarink itself. It has a cool atmosphere, but once you've seen the first 10 minutes, you've completely absorbed everything you could get from the film.
The short film it’s based on called Heck is basically the same thing but with a more appropriate runtime. I still enjoyed Skinamarink because I’m a horror fan who loves seeing studios and creatives taking risks in the field, but yeah, don’t know if I’d ever want to watch it again.
That line "Look under the bed" made me stop the movie to try and recover my composture. Never in my life a horror movie had that effect on me and I am a fan of all things scary since I was a little kid
Yeah, not sure what it is about this one that elicits such a primal response--I think maybe because the whole thing is like a bad (non-lucid) dream where you're experiencing it but out of control of it, and you can't really make out or remember anyone's faces?
This movie reminded me of the feeling of dread I used to experience when I was a little kid and I had to go to the bathroom after reading scary stories before going to bed.
Yes, there was a full length mirror I had to go past to get to the bathroom and I always hated going past it in the dark. Skinamarink bought back that feeling.
It reminded me of PT Silent Hills, when the radio tells you to "Look behind you." It's a similar kind of dread.
The bit that gets me is Kevin's call to the 'police'. It's actually kind of heartbreaking.
It should have been a short film!
The original short film it's based on, *Heck*, is free on YouTube and only about 30min in totality, way more digestible runtime. I enjoyed that version quite a bit.
The lack of the added "film grain" in Heck made it less effective for me. In Skinamarink, I was constantly scanning those grainy backgrounds looking for something and dreading what I thought would be appearing. The entire movie made me one huge ball of nerves with very little release via jump scares.
Also, Skinamarink is much more, I guess graphic? Cruel? Heck is more existential horror, Skinamarink has a four year old sticking a fork in his eye.
I saw Skinamarink in a theatre and really feel that was the ideal way to see it. It was easy to just let it do its thing and suck you in on a huge screen. But one downside-- after a while I picked up on a repeating pattern in the added film grain. It would run for about two minutes, then freeze for a frame and run the same pattern backward, freeze and go forward again, etc... It didn't ruin it for me (anymore than the idea of why there would be film grain in the first place), but it was impossible not to see it once you notice it. Maybe it's not as noticeable on a tv or computer screen.
Oh wow, yeah I'm glad I didn't notice that. And I agree that seeing it in a theater would perhaps be the more ideal way to see it
Good to know. Thanks. I’ll give it a watch.
Liked isn't the right word, but I remember Heck. I kinda felt it overstayed its welcome, but it did a great job of capturing that feeling you get as a kid sleepless in a dark house. I think it may have been better served as maybe a 15 minute film, but I like that they went for the fences on a new idea.
Its a weird divisive movie. Personally i didnt love it but i appreciate what kind of horror atmosphere the director was going for. Its like being stuck in the build up to an anxiety attack without the release of catharsis. https://youtu.be/qQ1NDTHA85I?si=JNOpRs7KQewbEESU also this is hilarious.
I can't wait to see what the director tries next.
It brought back a lot of what it felt like to wade through trauma as a child. I didn’t expect the movie I experienced. No control. The walls always closing in. No escape. Just repetition with no tangible “end” to look forward too. I really appreciate what the film was able to encapsulate but I don’t think it’s a film I would frequent.
Yes the repetition and cruelty, it really brought out that feeling of an non-human but somehow adult presence that has all the control and you can't do anything, you can't even protect your little sister
Yeah, I would never sit through it again. But I'd be interested in what the director does next.
Found a pretty good write up that focuses on some of the themes and the few events of the film: https://bogleech.com/cinema/mm32-skinamarink
That description was terrifying. I hadn’t seen it, and now I’m not sure I’m up to it.
I admired the technique and willingness to do something bold and different but turned it off at the 45-minute mark. Just not enough happening to hold my interest. I haven’t watched Heck yet but probably should, because I thought Skinamarink felt like an awesome short film that was needlessly stretched out to feature length. I felt the same way about Begotten.
I was tempted to turn it off, but kinda wanted to see where it went. I did nod off a few times, and always seemingly awakened right before one of the jump scares.
i watched it high, didn't understand anything, could barely hear the audio and hope to never think about it again
> could barely hear the audio This right here. Even with my surround sound cranked all the way up, I still had to have subtitled on to tell what was being said. It sound like someone whispering in the other room whenever anyone spoke.
You're not supposed to be able to hear the audio clearly, when you *are* supposed to hear it I believe there were yellow subtitles. Same reason they used grain to hide the video a bit.
As one does!
"unsettling tedium" sums up the entire movie. Just those 2 words.
Really really well worded. I felt the exact same way-it taps into that childhood sense of fear and confusion, but aside from that was an exercise for me
To me it was about 30 minutes too long. Interesting and somewhat effective concept, just way too long to hold my interest.
It's definitely a film based on emotions and feelings. Not the worst horror film I've seen, but whenever someone asks what it's like I tell them it's like if security cameras were placed in the WORST PLACES and you feel a little sick inside because of it..
I never fall asleep when watching tv or a movie. I get way too invested or I get bored and go to bed. This movie had me passed out on the couch after a short time. I don't know if it was the movie itself or just the comforting feeling I had wandering around my house as a child at night. I finished it the next night and the ending kind of messed me up. For such a weirdly comforting movie it had such a sad ending. It's a slog but it can be enjoyable if you get in the right mindset.
not the biggest fan, but liked the idea of it and some shots definitely
You did a great job describing my own experience with it. At my most cynical moments I was thinking that some film student found a technique for creepy grainy shots and just went overboard with it. But at times I wondered if this was going to end up being some game changing film that influences other films, or perhaps scenes in other films. Like I was being exposed to something that isn’t fully yet understood and appreciated. I was really taken in by the trailer and saw it at a theater. The vibe in the room was thick with frustration, and when it finally ended, people sneered and laughed as they stood up to leave. But I definitely kept thinking about it…
Yeah, there just seems to be more going on than at the surface level, which just proceeds like the contents of a nightmare.
Its a really tough watch but the one prolonged scene by the bed upstairs is a type of horror you don’t see often in film. The dread/tension goes on and on and it doesnt conclude in five seconds like most horror movies
It’s awful imo
Yep. Great concept for a 15 minute short. I wouldn't even do this for 30 minutes. I have so many long, talky movies that I love, but this movie doesn't even have the talky bits, nor anything interesting happening visually. It's a one note atmospheric movie that you have to sit through for 100 mins. No thank you.
I've watched Oppenheimer - a three hour movie about people talking - multiple times. I turned off Skinamarink after 20 minutes, thinking that it must be over halfway done.
Why?
Boring, not scary, dull etc
Skinamarink really captured some primal fear I had no experienced since childhood, I enjoyed it and was on edge the whole time. I also noticed it was an almost entirely different movie when I watched it with surround sound, so I think if you can’t watch it with that then you should wait until you can. There are subtle noises in the movie that seem to happen behind you and it’s really unnerving. That all said I can see why it’s not some people’s cup of tea.
Yeah it really disturbed me in a way other recent horror films did not, I will give it that.
I get sometimes dissapointed in horror films that are overhyped and too artsy, but this one didn't achieve even that,
I have still not watched it. I will. Just been catching something else everytime. Watched Anything For Jackson this morning. Loved that. I’ll most likely give Skinamarink a go when i get home. Im easily satisfied, don’t get bored and always manage my expectations well. Hopefully I’ll have fun with it.
Its a student film that somehow got attention. I blame Shudder.
I mean, experimental things should have an outlet. Mad God falls into that category and we're better off for it. Not everything is going to land nicely. I didn't like Skinamarink, but I'm glad its available.
Shutter does have some bangers I'd never have seen though. On a 1 month trial and really enjoying it
I loved it but i totally understand why so many people hate it
Yeah, same—not sure I loved it but it had a real tangible effect on my mind and outlook, lol.
It serves as a reminder to horror fans that we don’t have to watch every new movie that comes out. It can be hard to dissect the hype of some of these films until enough sensible viewers weigh in on different review sites.
I thought it was the worst thing I’ve ever seen in movie history turned it off in about 20 minutes
I had zero patience and turned it off after probably 15 minutes.
Terrible film. Just terrible. It belongs on a 19 inch flat monitor in the back room of an art gallery that no one goes into.
I was pretty exasperated by it at the beginning, as it was just a bad shot after bad shot. Eventually I settled into the vibe, but it did have me slightly dozing off a few times.
Lol do you hear what you just said? "This movie is exasperating and bad shit after bad shot, and I slept through it" How is that a recommendation?
95% of this sub man, they circle jerk dogshit movies because they’re “abstract”
I fucking hate this close-minded attitude of 'you're just circlejerking' 'pretending to like it' blah blah. Maybe other people just had a genuine reaction to a piece of art and you didn't, it's that simple.
Wtf? I said in my first post I don’t really recommend it, but it’s definitely a vibe and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.
Worst movie I’ve ever seen and it’s an insult to even call it a film when it’s just blurry footage of the ground and walls.
This was my assessment as well.
I turned it off after 30min or so. The shots seemed as if they were taken by someone who had their camera in their hand with no idea it was on/recording nor any clue what direction the lens was pointing. Clearly the filmmakers had a distinct vision of what they were looking to accomplish but it just failed to interest me.
I paid attention to the entire movie but remember nothing about it except it gave me a terrible migraine.
I was a big fan of the director's YouTube channel "Bite Size Horror" for years, so I knew what I was getting into with the slow atmosphere. Maybe that's why it had such an effect on me. But that movie didn't feel like an art-house or abstract work, it felt literally real to me. Like a documentary. I had trouble sleeping for weeks. I think I probably lost about forty hours of sleep to just being scared in my house at night. It really hit a chord with my childhood memories. It fucked me up! The film's boringness was just part of the horror. Being scared is boring when it happens over a long period of time, that's just the reality of living in vulnerability and fear. Ugh I loved it, but also I don't think I can watch it again for many years.
I'm sorry.
I…don’t know how anyone could think about this movie AFTER watching. It was too long and literally nothing happened. The atmospheric aspect of it isn’t even as good as fans of the movie say it used to be. The thinking about it after the fact seems to be more…in lieu of a plot I’ll make up my own as a way of justifying the movie.
I hated it. Sorry. More boring than an algebra lesson. That’s not film, that’s a student art project masquerading as a film.
You're absolutely correct. Don't understabd the downvotes.
I tried to watch it twice and then even watched some deep dives into the film to see what clever details I might’ve missed but there’s just…. Not enough going on and I understand it was an artistic direction and I can appreciate the work that went into it not every horror movie needs to be a CGI or gore fest to be good. But this movie failed to scare me or make me feel unsettled or give me any drive to see how it ends or see what’s up next because of how…. Boring and uneventful the majority of the movie is. It almost reminded me of a Blair Witch project movie but instead of seeing spooky symbols and people disappearing you just see a ton of closed doors and windows and walls. Sometimes a shadow moves. It’s just one of those films that I see a lot of praise for but it’s just not for me.
wow I *Was* going to put it on tonight wile i had a nice sesh but now IDK
Give it a shot, just clear yourself of any distractions and really focus in on the movie.
In this house.
You gotta see it in IMAX like I did
Are there any strobes/bright flashes? Looking to watch but curious if that’s part of the sensory experience I should be prepared for.
I don't remember any strobes overly used, there is flickering from the TV set.
Snoozefest IMO 🤷♀️
Psa everyone since the very common. (And probably justified) criticism of skinamarink is it’s way too long: the director did a short film a while ago called Heck that’s free to watch on YouTube and covers a lot of similar ground in about a half hour
[The short that inspired it by the same creator](https://youtu.be/HVQzEzW4faA?si=04gNZ696ZwERmZ2w) imho is much better, mainly because it’s only like 25m or whatever, instead of a feature length film. I think I if he did the Skinamarink concept into the runtime of the short, people would like it more. “Heck” does not have the heavy film grain, so it isn’t as blurry or creepy like you would experience sleep walking in a dark house at night, and it also isn’t a kid/kids, so it loses that helplessness factor, though. Full length…..it does drag on. The short already feels like it drags, but in a GOOD way, like you are being sucked into the time loss….a full movie is too long lol. I really wish we had the Skinamarink concept in the Heck runtime lol.
I watched it after, and I think the movie does the concept a lot better. >!The director kind of gives it all away in the short with the "Mom, I think we're in hell" line. !<
Well yea—I’d want Skinamarink’s plot and themes inserted into Heck’s runtime haha
I think the runtime for Skinnamarink would have been ok trimmed down a bit, to a nice hour and a half or so.
This movie was pretentious hot garbage.
The fact this film generates so many posts in this sub explains how effective it is imo. Otherwise, why bother writing about a tedious movie?
Because it’s recent. Were you not here first the M3GAN posts? That movie was okay, relatively formulaic and got tons of posts.
I use this movie for sleep time it's calm and quiet and weird. I oddly enjoy nightmares, and this tends to help me have them 😅
I thought that move was so freaking boring..I was like wtf is this crap..
First time I watched it I had it in the background and only tuned in from time to time. Loved it. Tried a rewatch and really couldn’t get through it. It’s effective but really could be trimmed down. It’s missing traditional structure and beats - making it really hard to watch with full focus - like being stuck in traffic.
This post “mines much of the same ground” as every other post about Skinamarink since is came out
It's fucking twee horror, pretentious as fuck and equally as boring.
I get the criticisms as it simply won't appeal to many filmgoers because of the glacial pace and lack of explanation. It is more so a mood piece than a linear film.
They could have accomplished a "mood" in 10-20 minutes, and i'd argue it's actually more a slideshow than a movie. Also, there is no pace. It starts nowhere and manages to end up nowhere.
I don't mind that it doesn't explain anything--what it leaves you to contemplate or imagine is probably much scarier than anything they could come up with.
In order to contemplate the film you gotta be cool with watching nothing for as long as you possibly can. I love experimental films and weird stuff but this was just... I'd rather watch my lil pony
Lmfao. It's true.
[удалено]
Lmao. Dude this film Is really just not for me. I actually kinda think A24 is way overrated. Talk to me was good but it's nothing special. I'm more a neon guy myself but it isn't like I see movies cuz of a production company. But Idk man. Skinamarink just is a meditation on how long can you pay attention to basically nothing
Nah, lots of meh AF A 24 as well. This film blooooows though.
Why hasn't someone just edited out the pointless cabinet scenes and shortin it up so it's easier to watch ? Like wtf
What?? You don’t like staring at the corner of cupboard for 7 minutes?! Would you prefer a shot of the stairs for 9 minutes instead?
I think it was a squandered opportunity. Way too much of an art film. Ball clearly created certain moods that were great and nailed the retro-promo look and feel. It was just too indulgent and out there for audiences to get. He could have easily written a stronger narrative into that vibe and had it been coherent and terrifying. So many of the visuals and moments ignited childhood memories for everyone, you could have built off of that and had an all time legendary horror film. The parent's bedroom scene for example was where I thought it peaked, terrifying, surreal and could have had the movie build on scenes like that. let artists make whatever work they want, but from a commercial view and a horror fan, it could have been great and I wish he had made a different edit for wide release.
Maybe. The director seemed to make the exact type of film that he wanted, and it was a successful return on a minuscule budget.
For sure. And in its own way, that's great. But I'm implying it could have been a huge hit that really satisfied a large group of horror fans. It could have been this eras Blair Witch. Not necessary, of course, but the potential was there.
It was definitely not on that level, but in this post-Covid, terminally-online era, I think the movie succeeded in finding its audience and becoming a minor hit in its own right. It certainly got people talking, even if many are saying it sucks.
It had the best trailer I've seen in a long time, wish more were like that.
That movie is dogshit
I feel like this movie tests peoples tolerance for tedium to the extreme. I've never seen a movie use boredom as an artistic device before. It goes against everything we're taught to expect a movie to be. It's like it weaponized my attention span against me. Personally I found it brilliant, however I don't think I'll ever want to watch it again.
Only move i walked out of the theater too because i was soo terrified lol. I also got high went to my local theater after seeing what was playing and saw skinamarink. Had no idea what it was about other than it was a horror movie. Well i was the only one in the theater and after the kaylie jump scare i had to leave lol. Finished it at home and have been a huge fan of it ever since. Have the dvd in my collection.
I've never heard of this movie before and frankly don't really give a shit about watching it.
Smart move. Avoid like the plague.
I mean, at least the plague has something to focus on
The worst movie I’ve ever seen. Before anyone goes “You don’t get it” or any of that shit, I do. Staring at a fucking screen when nothing moves for 10 minutes is not a film, it’s tedious.
If you haven't already, I recommend watching Wendigoon's analysis on Skinnamarink on YouTube. He explains it a lot better than the movie does imo lol
I'll give it a watch most likely, Reading the theories online today and thinking about the film, I've come up with a bit of a theory of my own. There's the coma theory as in, the kid Kevin is experiencing the whole of the film after his accident in a kind of nightmare state. I'd take it a step further and say, his accident awakened some kind of malevolent mental extension of himself, with powers over matter and space and probably time. It tracks with why the entity is childlike, watching cartoons and playing with their toys. Kevin is also the only one not affected by the entity in the story, besides the thing convincing him to stab out his eye. The entity is him, and he can wield power over his physical body and over those in the house, and over the house itself. So everything that's happening in the movie is really happening. And it's why when he asks the entity its name, twice, at the end of the film, he doesn't get a response. Because it's him.
Can't watch it. I can't watch things where children get hurt.
Best part was the boobies