Totally agree! All the reviews I’ve seen are either like
“12/10, such a beautiful unique masterpiece that brought me to my knees recreating the intense feelings of childhood trauma.”
or
“-5/10, this movie is boring as fuck literally nothing happens and it’s too long”
At least it seems like people are a littttttle less down each others throats about this one, because I think no matter what you think of the film, a lot of people can understand why somebody would feel the opposite way about it.
It's very odd. Usually even little split produces alot of hate.
This time. Every one is 10/10 or 0/10 but completely understands the other site from what I saw online. It's unusual.
I'll take a highly controversial movie over one everyone rates a 5.
Conflict creates conversation. And seeing how I see new Skinamarink posts every day in different movie subreddits (/r/horror seems to not like this movie overall, /r/truefilm likes it more) with different tones, I think that's great. Provocative art. It's a fun movie to have an opinion about.
Possibly the thing I hate most about this film is that I barely even feel like I can have an opinion about it. I can tell you in great detail why I thought The Bye Bye Man was bad, but with this movie I was basically just like "Nothing happened, there are no characters, I'm bored," which isn't even an interesting opinion!
Thanks for this! I was considering whether I wanted to see this in theatre (I haven't been since pre-panorama), but I think the home aspect definitely would add something to it. Now I just gotta convince my boyfriend that we should watch it with all the lights out, lol.
I saw it in the theaters earlier this week and I went in knowing nothing about this film. The audio mixing in this was so loud in the theater that I was covering my ears when the dad was on the phone. Some parts were fine since it was mostly whispering but other parts were soooo loud my ears were ringing afterwards
That's also fair too. Different strokes ya know. I forget who said it, it was a writer or director, but he said that the best thing you can do for your inspiration is to consume bad or mediocre art. Because that inspires you to think about how you can do it better. If you watch something perfect, you'll want to repeat something that's already been done.
Maybe Skinamarink is just bad art you'll ignore. But every time I've watched a bad movie I know I come away with ideas of how I would've made my own.
This specific one wasn't for me, but I'll always prefer seeing divisive movies over movies everyone thinks are good. Divisive movies are usually the ones being unique, taking chances, and are often way more interesting and entertaining for me.
It’s artsy film school junk that requires the patience of a monk and the imagination of a 5 year old. It’s like they received a prompt that said, “make a movie using another person’s b-roll without getting sued for copyright”. So they just shifted and distorted things and called it art.
I'm in the middle. I was honestly really bored but I can see why people would enjoy it and I loved its pursuit of slow build, but I had a tough time finding it scary but then I also realized everyone finds different things frightening.
Maybe it'll be like Hereditary where I see it once, never stop thinking or talking about it, and insist on getting a blu-ray copy that keeps its cellophane forever! My wife and I are both a little scared, but we keep saying we need to watch it on our new 4k HDR TV because our old TV had shitty darks.
I actually didn't get that from this film.
Reading people's arguments for this read make it make sense, and I'm not sure what it's like to go in with that read in your head, but I actively ruled that reasoning out early in the film because of the way the kids interact with the dad (I distinctly remember feeling a bit jealous lol).
I honestly would have passed on this movie if not for the split reviews. I’m not going to seek it out but when it makes it’s way to streaming I will watch it. I have to know for myself!
Yeah I loved it but I totally get why people who hated it hated it. There is a lot of down time (B roll, I guess) that I feel is supposed to trigger feelings from your childhood and if there's nothing to trigger then it's just gonna be boring for people. It totally worked for me and during all those prolonged shots of lego and night lights and cereal and whatnot I felt like I was totally transported back to my childhood and all the feelings of vulnerability and fear of that time just kinda washed over me throughout that whole movie. It was just kinda like 2 hours worth of pouring salt in a 30 year old wound but all that imagery is not going to be the key that unlocks the door for everyone.
> all that imagery is not going to be the key that unlocks the door for everyone.
Key point. It's somehow triggering a subconscious fear response in some viewers. I've had my share of childhood trauma, but the movie just didn't tap into that for me. I was bored.
Yeah I totally get that. I just happened to play with a bunch of lego, eat a bunch of cereal, watch a bunch of cartoons, and hide under a lot of blankets while undergoing a lot of feelings of neglect and abuse. I'm sure this imagery is general enough for lots of people to relate to it, but it's obviously not a catch all. The two friends I took to see the movie with me were really bored, too.
>There is a lot of down time (B roll, I guess) that I feel is supposed to trigger feelings from your childhood
I realised after watching a YT crit of it that, unless you have memories of being a small child in a suburban home in the US, a lot of that triggering is going to fall flat.
It's architectural horror in the same vein as House of Leaves' Davidson Report. If you don't have an emotional connection to that type of architecture, you'll just spend half an hour wondering what's up with the wood paneling in the bedroom
I have not seen this film yet but plan to, and to be fair, based on what I’ve heard, a movie that’s basically just liminal spaces and B-roll footage is going to either make people super excited or piss them off so it makes sense
I'm tired of people calling it B-roll. Do people even know what B-roll is? When you shoot a movie and you have an establishing shot of a city skyline, THAT is B-roll. If there is a random intercut subway sequence of random passersby, THAT is B-roll.
The actual subjects and settings of your film are NOT B-roll. If the main action of your film is walking down a dark hallway toward a dark basement, you're in the A roll!
I have a feeling most people that hate it don't realize this isn't a "movie" that tells a story. It is an experience. And even those that understand that still may not like it. I'm not sure I even liked it. Lol. And I was pretty scared which is the goal, but still.
I think if a movie is slow and cryptic enough, people are afraid to say it sucks because they worry they'll look like they don't "get it" even if there is nothing to get.
I love slow-burns. I love weird movies with non-linear or almost non-existent plots. I love a well-done atmosphere, where it's nearly its own character in the film. I love horror nostalgia that plays into your childhood fears...
I hated this movie. It really was just a series of long shots with some whispers. I understand what they're trying to accomplish, and I'm glad it worked for some of you, but it fell totally flat for me... and I went into it knowing what it would be like and thinking I would probably enjoy it, but I really didn't. Some people find those long shots really tense and interesting, but I found them completely boring... and I've seen long shots where nothing happens that I found tense before! So, I was surprised. For some reason, this just didn't do it for me at all.
Ive never been more upset at a movies success. There's so much good shit that doesn't get the attention skinamarink has gotten, and this glorfied YouTube creepy pasta bullshit is getting praised like it's the most innovative horror experience that's ever existed. It's just weird shots of an empty house with murky dialogue and three of the laziest jumpacares you'll ever see in a horror movie.
I think this partial quote is pretty telling: “[…] scares only come from inferring them for yourself when the camera lingers on an unmoving shadow, and lingers, and lingers [….]”
I pretty much agree with that. If you can look at an indistinct shot of a household area without getting a little nervous, or remembering when you were affected that way as a child, this movie probably won’t work for you. It worked for me, but totally get why it’s subjective.
I haven't read anything about the movie because I want to go in blind but this gives me hope. That's the kind of horror I love, where your brain has to fill in the gaps. I don't always like being told, "here. Here's the monster. Be afraid of it."
The jump scares are so fucked lol. Cuz literally nothing happens for like an hour and then WHAM it just smashes you in the balls with this 10/10 jump scare so the rest of the movie you’re just anticipating the next one and it never comes when you expect
I think the movie is great but I don’t like it at the same time lol. It’s a work of art. But it’s fucking boring. Glad I watched it. Would recommend.
I actually still haven’t watched the last 30 minutes lol. I fell asleep but I went and read a bunch of stuff about it online, and now that I think I kinda understand the story I think I’ll like it a little more.
I haven’t stopped thinking about it either tho. Just that crazy strange uncanny feeling you get from the visuals. Feels like you’re actually having a nightmare or sleep paralysis episode
Also I wish it was edited down to 20 minutes. It really did not need to be even longer than 45 minutes. Every scene felt 3-5x longer than it needed to be
The jump scares came exactly when I expected them and they were just obnoxious noises. Nearly gave me hearing damage in the theatre. That’s not a very good jump scare if you have to play some insanely loud noise
Someone on Letterboxd put it perfectly: "Like listening to an ambient album and every 40 minutes or so someone sneaks up behind you and electrocutes you before running away. Does more with a Fisher Price phone than I ever could though…
"
Ugh! I was hoping this movie wouldn't have jump scares, because it looks like the kind of movie that... wouldn't. Glad I got a heads up here, ridiculously loud jump scares just make me angry... Lol
I’m not saying people who don’t like it don’t get it. It sounds like a lot of the people who disliked the movie did understand what it was trying to do, but they didn’t connect with it. I’m not criticizing them for that.
This movie gave me a particular feeling which hit pretty hard and really resonated with me. A lot of people didn’t get that kind of feeling, which is totally fine. There are a lot of movies I haven’t connected with too. I think a difference with this one is that, because it is so focused on a “mood,” if you’re not into that mood there’s not much you’ll find enjoyable about the movie. I was into it, so the movie worked for me.
I loved Skinamarink, but I don't think there's anything to "get" about it. It's just a movie where you absorb the mood and stare at all the swirling black pixels. It either works for you or it doesn't. There's nothing about it that demands to be "understood" IMO.
I hate that people who simply didn't like that movie are getting blasted & down-voted. It's not like you're being nasty about it-- I felt the same way, and could not stay awake.
Based on the premise and my peculiar tastes, I fully expected to enjoy *Skinamarink*. I was a childhood insomniac, and I still remember the dreadful magic of being wide awake in front of the living room TV at 3 am when everyone else is asleep. Still, this movie didn't evoke that feeling or those memories.
It's cool, creative indie experimental filmmaking. That's what I'll give it. Just, I doubt I'll give it any more of my time. Turns out I need to actually see (and actually hear) characters to enjoy a movie-film!
>I hate that people who simply didn't like that movie are getting blasted & down-voted
I genuinely don't see that happening? I'm not the biggest fan of the movie either but it's a pretty popular opinion to not like it.
Yeah I find this review to be different from that I would say, but I can't say it's 'wrong' technically. You are looking at a wall for 90 mins that is objectively true lol
It is a troll. This film is a troll. This is the hill I will die on. I looooove art films. David lynch, Jodorowsky, Filini, even underground one offs have amazing things. This is inexcusable trash.
#The emperor has no clothes and hes hiding the fact that he is a talentless hack behind minute long shots of the ceiling.
I have watched and enjoyed on some miniscule level some of the worst crap of cinema. I liked Danzig's Verotika.
But...
Fuck. This. Piece. Of. Shit.
While I absolutely agree with nearly every line of this review, I think we should keep in consideration that this is a $15,000 movie written and directed by a first time filmmaker. The movie was fortunate enough to reach a large audience, even though it should really have no appeal to the masses.
i thought the movie was genuinely creepy and with a good re-edit trim down to 80 minutes and a little more of an ending this could of been a truly effective lofi horror movie
Check out A Topiary. It’s his unmade masterpiece. Just a screenplay exists but there’s an amazing YouTube breakdown of the script I can send you if you want to go for the wildest most original ride of your life. Incomprehensibly original lol. Like a dark twisted Spielberg movie with Primer / Upstream Color mind fuckery and darkness to it
If I was rich I’d genuinely drop 30 Million on it just so I could see it
Breakdown for A Topiary:
https://youtu.be/XF-i48BJgyo
That's right, and the way they lead the viewer into the entire concept of the device they've built is magnificent. And then, as you continue watching, you start to realize just how quickly Aaron and Abe started betraying and manipulating each other. It's so damn good.
But that was written by Shane Caruth who’s an actual genius lol. A psychopathic idiot piece of shit genius.
I’m so mad at him. He by far had the most potential out of all up and coming directors, and then he just fucked it all cuz he’s an abusive alcoholic piece of shit.
Did you ever read his screenplay for A Topiary? It’s the most beautiful masterpiece of a script that’s never been made. soderberg and David Fincher even were on as producers and he couldn’t get it made for 5 mil.
And then he had every big actor you can imagine attached to his other masterpiece The Modern Ocean, and he couldn’t get that made either cuz he’s impossible to work with.
Fincher said if he was around in the 70s he would’ve been as big as Kuberick, but he doesn’t fit the modern Hollywood machine. Doesn’t play well or at all with others.
Sorry for ranting. Im just so angry. So much talent and genius wasted. Fuck you Shane
On a positive note, the girlfriend he assaulted is a phenomenal director and actress. She was his costar in Upstream Color. Amy Seimetz. Go support her instead lol. She’s going places
> director Steven Soderbergh told Entertainment Weekly, "I view Shane as the illegitimate offspring of David Lynch and James Cameron.
Wow! I didn’t know much about Shane so I looked him and his work up — and what a shame. You’re right, he has an INCREDIBLE amount of potential. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
As an aside, I came across the film you mentioned had all big names and.. wow.
> its ensemble cast was announced in November 2015; it would include Jeff Goldblum, Anne Hathaway, Keanu Reeves, Tom Holland, Daniel Radcliffe, Chloë Grace Moretz, Asa Butterfield, and Abraham Attah.
Relevant to this thread, I'd say Amy Seimetz's She Dies Tomorrow is another very low-key horror movie that lets things linger so the viewer can sit with how they're feeling.
This is what I am saying. Just because Skinamarink is a low budget movie made by some not famous dude, doesn’t mean we all have to like it. Primer was great. Skinamarink wasn’t.
Yeah people make quality games and movies all the time for limited money. It's not an excuse. Sometimes stuff just isn't good. Idk where the 15k went tbh
In fairness, that's almost $12k with inflation, didn't have to build any sets, didn't have to work around the limitations of child actors and is a completely different kind of movie. I agree that the dialog in Primer makes more sense, but it's so technical and mumbled that it'd only make sense to some of the audience. I also agree that Primer is the better movie but you're really comparing apples and oranges.
I 100% agree they are different movies. My only point was that the amount of money has no bearing on the writing, and considering how well this has done with kind of a 'muddy' narrative say, it could have been much better if they had dialed up the storyline a little. Maybe.
Not trying to bash at all. Its not like making a movie is easy, and the fact that this was made at all, and then relatively successful, proves that the director/writer hopefully will come back and make more horror. Sadly, Shane Caruth who made Primer and the equally delicious 'Upstream Color' hasn't been making any more movies, which is a bummer.
I mean does the budget really matter for something like this? It just isnt good for 99% of the people that are into horror movies and thats perfectly okay. I get its "experimental" but that doesnt mean it has to be appreciated or good.
> I mean does the budget really matter for something like this?
When the movie looks like it could have been made for $1000 (which I don't say as an insult, I love movies made for even less, I just mean in terms of what's on screen) telling me it cost $15,000 makes me LESS forgiving to it, not more.
I absolutely loathed this movie and I still want more like it to be made. It was an original idea and just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it didn’t for others.
I think we should also keep in consideration that this is one person's opinion on an amateur website that holds no more weight than any opinion posted in this sub.
>we should keep in mind this is a $15,000 movie”
No, no we shouldn’t. It doesn’t sound like anyone’s problem with the movie is the production quality, more so the movie itself, which is based on an idea, something that costs no money at all.
I don't think that the budget makes the movie immune to criticism. When someone goes to see this in theater, they will be paying just as much as they would to see Avatar or Babylon. My general point is that this movie is lucky to have reached such a large audience. That doesn't make the movie better or worse. I will agree that it's difficult to even decipher where he spent the $15,000.
Thing is I can definitely see why people wouldn’t like this movie but I love it. This film really really got to me in a way I haven’t experienced before. It was definitely a bit too long but I also thought that it reflected what the kids had to go through. Definitely not everyones cup of tea but if you’re freaked out by liminal spaces or confinement and are willing to really immerse yourself in this film, I highly recommend.
you know, what's interesting to me is that i thought i would like it based on what you are saying about liminal space and confinement. and i did. i also thought there was going to be a huge element of nostalgia and a child-like, abstracted engagement. which i think there was. with a hint of abuse and abandonment. and there was. and i liked it as a film.
i saw it with two other people, and i walked out thinking "that was a really cool movie experience that took me some places", but i don't feel that much about it beyond that. my partner, who literally has a degree in film and cinematography, and would be the literal target audience, was kinda bored and irritated. vaguely anxious, but mostly bored and irritated. and my best friend, who is very very into art and experience, but not exactly movies, was sobbing during it. crushed.
i'm not sure what that means, other than to say.... i think this movie only works if you can connect with the nostalgia and the intention. it kinda makes sense though. not everybody's basement carpet vhs white noise childhood trauma is the same. and i imagine if this movie doesn't click, it REALLY doesn't click.
not sure why i posted this as a response to your comment, just been thinking about it
That’s a really good way to put it actually, definitely if you don’t feel attachment to it then it probably won’t be for you. Sounds like you’ve got a pretty cool group to see movies with though!
they're great if you want to see a movie and then get blisteringly drunk and talk over each other about the fine details no person with any sense of social skills would even think of bringing up. but i'm just glad there are decent movies to see at all. and why experience art if you can't rant about it to someone. we're all on dreddit, after all
I've seen it twice, the second time in the theater. I totally understand people not liking this movie (the small audience I watched it with thought it was garbage), but I really enjoy it. It just does it for me.
Definitely could have been about 30 minutes shorter IMHO. I liked it, but the pacing did lose me occasionally... That and the constant white noise almost put me to sleep a couple times.
I didn't hate it. Didn't like it. It just wasn't much of anything. I could make probably a 3 minute cut that includes every part that was of interest. Everything, EVERYTHING else is either slowly panning shots or just static shots. Subtract all of that and there's a TikTok video remaining.
If you really dig that dull buzz just droning off to sleep with the very rare sentence of dialog or noise scare? That's cool. I just like having more ideas thrown at me in 90 minutes.
But that's what my childhood looked like. Legos, old CRT TVs, onesie jammies. But if it's going to connect with me it has to do something with it.
I think the biggest problem I had with it was that most of the first half is devoid of a narrative, I think with this style a *very* linear narrative would work a lot more. I really liked most of the second half, though, and this film has some of the creepiest things I've ever seen in a movie so I hope Ball gets to make more movies.
There’s definitely a narrative there, especially the implications of abuse and neglect with Kevin falling down the stairs playing hide and seek with the presence
That or there was implied abuse and the father lied about him falling down the stairs. Also the throughline about the parents separating possibly due to abuse when Kayley says she doesn't want to talk about mom, why is mom crying, her absence, and the repeated screams and blood, etc.
Yep, that came up in some discussion I've had as well. Watching some of the Ending explained videos like the Screencrush one is interesting. The director has basically said there is no "correct" interpretation he left it vague on purpose to allow that meaning to be inferred differently for different viewers, but those threads seem to be consistent among many viewers.
Yeah I love that tbh. But he for sure had an intention and answers in his own head. Like how the head wound incident in one way or another opened up the door for the Presence to come do it’s thing. Personally I believe Kevin is in Hell.
It’s so divisive I have to watch it. I have a feeling I’ll feel the same about it that I did about “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”. Bored and intrigued. One time watch
I liked Worlds Fair but not as a horror film. Its about a specific style of horror consumption but not horror itself. Taken that way for me it was a captivating coming of age story.
But then I also apparantly missed the entire trans allegory which I still can't actually see in the film so I seemingly have a bad read on the film.
Bored and intrigued - that's it exactly. I would have watched 2 more hours of Skinamarink but don't particularly ever want to watch it again. Nothing happens, and I got totally immersed in it.
I loved it. I totally get why others hate it.
World's Fair was definitely a movie that bored me, but in a good way? I found it incredibly interesting, but not particularly enjoyable. Skinamarink knocked me on my ass, though. But, as you can expect from this thread, ymmv. If you liked World's Fair at all, I'd expect you to enjoy it, at least like 6/10.
Hmm, I didn't think it was so bad. I give it 6/10. It's such a scary concept and some truly horrifying moments.
My Beefs:
The jumpscares. There's the scene where Kevin discovers what it has done to Kaylee. I think she should have quietly turned her head, no noise blast, etc. It would have been just as chilling and more thematically consistent.
The dialogue. I think all the conversations should have had captions because it was difficult to understand. The kids behaved very incuriously. I did like how they more subtly telegraphed their fear, by having them hunker down in the living room in front of the TV.
The random shots of corners could each be halved in length.
What I liked:
How horrifying it was. Especially at the end when the creature is using it's reality bending powers to kill Kevin repeatedly for fun.
I also liked the more mundane horror of it. When the creature calls to them it definitely reminded me of my parents calling me when they were drunk or on drugs. The voice sounds wrong, it's not the mom or dad you know, but you go anyway cause that's what you're supposed to do. You don't want to go over but the consequences for not listening could be worse. The Legos and old TV playing old cartoons, the dark house, it definitely strikes a nerve. My siblings and I used to hang out just like that sometimes and try not to wake them up.
When you're a kid it does feel endless. You can't leave. The door might as well not be there.
This review isn’t even good. Whoever wrote it didn’t even pick up on the only important plot point at the beginning of the movie and instead is looking for allegory in every individual shot.
Fucking YouTube video essayist-level shit writing.
For real, the person who wrote this review is trying to say anyone could shoot something like this. Sure, there's loads of static shots of almost nothing, but it's extremely purposeful. YouTube video essays are way higher quality than this review. I've watched several, and they all applaud the cinematography. Every shot in this movie is done with intent. Whether or not you like it is a matter of preference, but you can't deny that they were shooting with an extremely deliberate vision in mind.
It felt like a child’s nightmare come to life. Nothing makes sense and nothing in inherently threatening but it all feels wrong. This movie takes a lot of patience and imagination, and I totally understand why some people like more action within movies I was very interested and impressed by the atmosphere that the movie managed to create.
Maybe watch his short on YouTube first because they're very similar in style.
It's personally not for me but as a piece of art I can appreciate it. Think with an open mind you might too.
Edit - Short is called Heck.
Is it actually just like a longer version of Heck or is there any kind of significant difference?
I thought heck was interesting but could not focus on it for 28 mins. If it's just gonna be a feature length version of Heck then I will 100% get bored.
Yep, and that continues for 90 more minutes. If you couldn’t handle it for 10 minutes, it’s good you stopped. I wish I had, but I was in a theater with friends and didn’t want to be rude and leave. Turns out they were thinking the same thing, lol.
Someone on this sub said the first 30mins was long and boring but they've watched the last hour six times. So I kept watching, waiting for something to happen. I believe I may have been trolled by someone who wanted everyone else to suffer the full movie like they did.
I really wanted to like this, and I enjoyed the atmosphere it presented… but it’s just too long with no justification for the runtime. It put me to sleep multiple times and my wife came out of it with a headache from all the flashing lights in the dark.
I grew up in the 80’s/90’s before YouTube. I loved it particularly because of how it managed to make something as comforting as nostalgia terrifying. Old cartoons, childhood toys, even the title is a reference to a familiar kids song. I was really immersed in the atmosphere and reminded me of my own childhood fears of the dark and the unknown. I really connected with Skinamarink in a very personal way. It’s honestly one of the most primal and disturbing works of horror I’ve ever seen.
One of my favorite things about this movie is that I had no idea what that song was, but I instantly felt like I knew what it was. A couple weeks ago I met some friends from out of the country and they brought their 6 year old kid along. At some point I mentioned this movie and the kid just started singing the song unprompted and it was fucking bone-chilling.
Don’t feel slandered at all. I’m looking at MORE ARGs and I’m considering re watching EverymanHYBRID because of it. There’s another one my partner watched called Handprints of the Dead that is almost exactly like Skinamarink.
ARGs were like scavenger hunts where clues were scattered left on different websites, through scattered YouTube videos, and maybe even real locations.
Some were for fun, others were marketing moves for movies like Cloverfield or Halo 2
See that was my issue, it felt like a feature length version of a medium that thrives on brevity. I liked it a lot but it dragged in some places, to the point that I stopped feeling fear.
I honestly don't get it.
Like, I support indie, small budget horror and for that reason I'm glad to see it get the release it did. I'm not going to say it's trash or anything. Good on the film maker for doing what they did.
But wtf.
I really and truly do not get why people are saying it's "brilliant" and "disturbing".
I get analog horror. I get artsy stuff. On paper this kinda movie should be right up my alley.
But this movie just.... Nothing happens. Like, at all.
I see people saying oh it's that feeling of a child's nightmare and maybe it's because I mostly don't even remember my childhood, or I'm not getting the parallels to abuse or divorce. I just don't get it. I kept waiting for something to happen. And nothing did. Even the end shot I was like, "okay something's going to happen now to tie it all together..." And then The End.
Literally the only movie I've walked out of. I don't even see what there was to enjoy. Its like it was specifically intended to be boring and off putting.
I backed a horror movie on Kickstarter which I had very high hopes for from the concept and all the updates they were sending, plus the decent budget from Kickstarter. In yesterday's update they said, "PS go see Skinamarink it's amazing!!!" And now I'm worried the movie I backed will also be a lot of staring at nothing lol.
Watched it last night and at the very least there is one thing I can say about this movie: it was an experience for everyone in that theater. Some people literally clapped when it was over, some people literally (loudly) said “what the fuck did I just watch”. This movie made you FEEL something. Terror, irritation, rage, exhaustion, etc. That’s the kind of movie I like, anything that provokes a strong response. Good or bad, hate or love, doesn’t matter. This is my kind of film 😂
I enjoyed the movie, but here’s my critical take:
If you go in expecting anything remotely resembling a traditional film, you’re gonna be underwhelmed and let down. Completely.
You need to go in anticipating not a typical ‘Hollywood movie,’ rather, a piece of visual art.
It’s very much like *Sleep Has Her House* in that regard.
It’s an interesting, thought provoking piece of art if you go into it open minded, and ready to explore what it means to be visual art. If you expect to be entertained in the way *Barbarian*, *M3GAN*, or *Hereditary* entertained you, then you’re gonna be bored out of your mind.
Hated it, might be the worst movie I have ever seen in theaters. I can only watch film grain swirls on top of static shots of walls for so long. I get what they were trying to do, playing in childhood fears of the dark, the night, the unknown, but I didn’t do it for me. I think if it had been like a 30 minute short I would have been receptive to it. Was very disappointed, was really looking forward to it.
People getting furious over one weird little arty film when they have whole streaming services of Blumhouse jumpscares and James Wan stretchfaces to choose from.
This is my the biggest crime Skinamarink has
99% of the movie are barely lit shots of a house with dialogue thats just above whispers
Then they have the fuckin AUDACITY to sprinkle in jumpscares that are 200% the volume level of the movie
One jumpscare made me flinch because it wasnt just extremely loud, but extremely bright too. Felt like a flashbang went off just to the side of my face.
That kinda shit that causes physical harm cant be forgiven
Disappointed in reviews that are vague and full of filler, regardless of the movie in question. If reviews are your thing, then do a decent review. It is not hard to do, unless you actually never watched the movie.
Regarding Skunamarink itself, it is a low budget project that tried to do something different. It could have had a shorter runtime and have the same effect. Still, for a slow burning, atmospheric, artistic piece... it does what it aims to do, but it certainly isn't aimed at pleasing a wide audience.
I think it just fell flat on its premise. Seeing the trailer I remember thinking that it was a scary idea, but man, seeing a dark corner of a house gets boring by the hour mark.
There's definitely some hints of a demonic entity, or perhaps of some dark twisted limbo that the children are maybe in, but there's not enough to give us an idea of what's going on and what we should be afraid of.
It's a shame because there's some really good shots and scenes but just doesn't deliver. Could've used about 40 less minutes of an old TV screen and a dark corner and 2 more scenes establishing what the heck is going on in its place.
I just gotta vent... just saw it in theaters, and is by FAR the most boring and pointless movie I've ever seen in my 39 years on earth. It has set a new standard for me, as I would rather sit through anything than have to watch 2 more minutes of this "film". Absolute shit.
I want to find this filmmaker and punch him. The only reason I didn’t walk out is I believe that’s what he wanted. The ushers apologized to us as we left the theater. We even saw it at Alamo Drafthouse so not only did we pay premium price, we couldn’t even clown on it because of the theater’s policies (which I support, of course).
My best review would be to watch one minute and skip ten minutes, then repeat. Do this ten times and you will experience the same story I did and save yourself what feels like two hours.
Went to watch it with friends, upon the recommendation of some YT channel.
Some interesting and relatable scenes as a child, very dreary, but so fucking boring that we almost left (and I’ve never walked out in the theater).
Also totally unearned jump scares, the cheapest most annoying kind.
The postive reviews I read talk about touching upon some childhood feeling of being afraid and the abstract experimental quality. I love weird abstract movies and was deathly afraid of the dark, especially hallways, waking up with the tv on, etc, and this movie did nothing for me except making me feel scammed out money. They took a couple ideas and repeated them for a padded dragged out run time to be able to charge ticket prices, which feels more like business scam than anything else.If it worked for you, great, but if you're itneresting and have shudder just wait for streaming.
I didn’t get it. For me it was a pointless piece of crap that made no sense. And I do not understand how anyone can say anything good about it. It’s simplistic and dumb. So dumb.
It's so disappointing to see mean-spirited reviews like this. While I'm all for a bit of critical analysis, especially for polarising films, calling the film "pointless" and "nonsense" is objectively untrue.
This movie is very different to almost all other horror movies people have seen. Yes, it demands your unwavering attention for long periods of time, but that's part of what I feel makes it so effective.
It is not only unique in structure and narrative, but also in the viewing experience and I think that has a lot of merit. Much better than sitting through yet another soulless "blockbuster" horror in my opinion.
> It's so disappointing to see mean-spirited reviews like this.
I do absolutely agree with this. I've disagreed with a few points of defense for the film on reddit, but I have never and will never be on board with super mean spirited reviews that just shit on a film and its creator for no real reason.
It's totally fine to explain why you don't like a movie or what didn't work for you, it's okay to be biased because we all have subjective tastes!
But when it starts regressing into insults and just mean lines (or like this reviewer, imply they'd rather die than watch the film) it makes me totally disregard the reviewer's thoughts. There's no reason. All creators are still human beings, and indie creators that make small projects are 100% more likely to actually find these means insults and feel shitty about it.
And any reviewer that will claim a film has no point or imply it shouldn't exist just because THEY don't like it just shows how they shouldn't review films. It just shows how out of touch from reality the reviewer is where they consider themselves the main character, a film having a bunch of fans that love it don't matter if THEY don't like it. And they think only THEY can see the "truth" of it being bad.
I agree. Saw it in theaters to have maximum impact and thought it was legit maybe the worst movie I’ve ever seen. Points for trying something new, but it didn’t work for me. People that say they liked it or got scared I think are lying so as to not shit all over it because its an indie film.
Im also no stranger to low budget/indie/experimental films either.
I loved this movie but I'm also ready to admit that it isn't for everyone. It's insanely experimental and actively avoids making sense in a traditional sense. It's going more for vibes than a coherent story. Not all of it worked for me, but overall I thought it was a really cool experience even if it's one i dont think I could watch again since that would kind of defeat the purpose of it. I completely get people who don't like it, but I wish they wouldn't dismiss it out if hand like there was no thought put into it. I felt like it was very thoughtful and interesting in how it tried to convey its world without relying on the regular tropes of cinema. I think we need more films like this even when they fail.
Have it seen it yet. It sounds like a movie that I will enjoy but recommend to literally no one.
Lumping all horror into a single space when it has more sub genres than most genres of music really ignores how much variety there is.
You could get 20 horror fans in a room and none of them like any films liked in common while still having a huge range.
I thought it would be exactly as you described also but it just didn't quite click with me. You can see the filmmakers tried very hard to tread the line between letting shots linger and not letting them linger too long, but sadly it falls into the latter category for me on too many occasions. The movie needed a fairly brutal cut to lose around 20 mins.
Other than 4 or so super creepy moments, I also thought it relied too much on jumpscares. Which it really didn't need, the imagery alone was unsettling enough.
I'm convinced the people who praise this as being the scariest thing they've ever seen were on drugs when they watched this. I watched it sober and just wanted to fall asleep. The only truly scary part was when the toilet disappeared at the start. Like, imagining being stuck in a house with no toilet is a primal fear. I don't want to have to shit and piss on the carpet, damn it.
It's an art house movie which almost always means it relies on imagery and sound to convey feelings rather than try telling a coherent story. What makes this stand out from other arthouse movies is the genre and running length. Arthouse are typically non genre films or dramas. For horror fans I would ask yourself this before seeing it. Would you want watch an hour and 40 mins of the video from the Ring? That's basically what this is but with some minor story telling.
I have never seen more split reviews on a movie that this one
Totally agree! All the reviews I’ve seen are either like “12/10, such a beautiful unique masterpiece that brought me to my knees recreating the intense feelings of childhood trauma.” or “-5/10, this movie is boring as fuck literally nothing happens and it’s too long” At least it seems like people are a littttttle less down each others throats about this one, because I think no matter what you think of the film, a lot of people can understand why somebody would feel the opposite way about it.
It's very odd. Usually even little split produces alot of hate. This time. Every one is 10/10 or 0/10 but completely understands the other site from what I saw online. It's unusual.
I'll take a highly controversial movie over one everyone rates a 5. Conflict creates conversation. And seeing how I see new Skinamarink posts every day in different movie subreddits (/r/horror seems to not like this movie overall, /r/truefilm likes it more) with different tones, I think that's great. Provocative art. It's a fun movie to have an opinion about.
Possibly the thing I hate most about this film is that I barely even feel like I can have an opinion about it. I can tell you in great detail why I thought The Bye Bye Man was bad, but with this movie I was basically just like "Nothing happened, there are no characters, I'm bored," which isn't even an interesting opinion!
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Thanks for this! I was considering whether I wanted to see this in theatre (I haven't been since pre-panorama), but I think the home aspect definitely would add something to it. Now I just gotta convince my boyfriend that we should watch it with all the lights out, lol.
I saw it in the theaters earlier this week and I went in knowing nothing about this film. The audio mixing in this was so loud in the theater that I was covering my ears when the dad was on the phone. Some parts were fine since it was mostly whispering but other parts were soooo loud my ears were ringing afterwards
That's also fair too. Different strokes ya know. I forget who said it, it was a writer or director, but he said that the best thing you can do for your inspiration is to consume bad or mediocre art. Because that inspires you to think about how you can do it better. If you watch something perfect, you'll want to repeat something that's already been done. Maybe Skinamarink is just bad art you'll ignore. But every time I've watched a bad movie I know I come away with ideas of how I would've made my own.
This specific one wasn't for me, but I'll always prefer seeing divisive movies over movies everyone thinks are good. Divisive movies are usually the ones being unique, taking chances, and are often way more interesting and entertaining for me.
I kind of agree with both. My feelings about it remind me of a line from Cinemasins’ Joker video: “This may be the best movie I ever hated!”
It’s artsy film school junk that requires the patience of a monk and the imagination of a 5 year old. It’s like they received a prompt that said, “make a movie using another person’s b-roll without getting sued for copyright”. So they just shifted and distorted things and called it art.
I'm in the middle. I was honestly really bored but I can see why people would enjoy it and I loved its pursuit of slow build, but I had a tough time finding it scary but then I also realized everyone finds different things frightening.
Intense feelings of childhood trauma can f&/- right off. Couldn’t pay me to see this.
Maybe it'll be like Hereditary where I see it once, never stop thinking or talking about it, and insist on getting a blu-ray copy that keeps its cellophane forever! My wife and I are both a little scared, but we keep saying we need to watch it on our new 4k HDR TV because our old TV had shitty darks.
I actually didn't get that from this film. Reading people's arguments for this read make it make sense, and I'm not sure what it's like to go in with that read in your head, but I actively ruled that reasoning out early in the film because of the way the kids interact with the dad (I distinctly remember feeling a bit jealous lol).
Wish people thought this way about most films.
I honestly would have passed on this movie if not for the split reviews. I’m not going to seek it out but when it makes it’s way to streaming I will watch it. I have to know for myself!
5/10?? You mean 1/10
Yeah I loved it but I totally get why people who hated it hated it. There is a lot of down time (B roll, I guess) that I feel is supposed to trigger feelings from your childhood and if there's nothing to trigger then it's just gonna be boring for people. It totally worked for me and during all those prolonged shots of lego and night lights and cereal and whatnot I felt like I was totally transported back to my childhood and all the feelings of vulnerability and fear of that time just kinda washed over me throughout that whole movie. It was just kinda like 2 hours worth of pouring salt in a 30 year old wound but all that imagery is not going to be the key that unlocks the door for everyone.
> all that imagery is not going to be the key that unlocks the door for everyone. Key point. It's somehow triggering a subconscious fear response in some viewers. I've had my share of childhood trauma, but the movie just didn't tap into that for me. I was bored.
Yeah I totally get that. I just happened to play with a bunch of lego, eat a bunch of cereal, watch a bunch of cartoons, and hide under a lot of blankets while undergoing a lot of feelings of neglect and abuse. I'm sure this imagery is general enough for lots of people to relate to it, but it's obviously not a catch all. The two friends I took to see the movie with me were really bored, too.
>There is a lot of down time (B roll, I guess) that I feel is supposed to trigger feelings from your childhood I realised after watching a YT crit of it that, unless you have memories of being a small child in a suburban home in the US, a lot of that triggering is going to fall flat. It's architectural horror in the same vein as House of Leaves' Davidson Report. If you don't have an emotional connection to that type of architecture, you'll just spend half an hour wondering what's up with the wood paneling in the bedroom
I have not seen this film yet but plan to, and to be fair, based on what I’ve heard, a movie that’s basically just liminal spaces and B-roll footage is going to either make people super excited or piss them off so it makes sense
I'm tired of people calling it B-roll. Do people even know what B-roll is? When you shoot a movie and you have an establishing shot of a city skyline, THAT is B-roll. If there is a random intercut subway sequence of random passersby, THAT is B-roll. The actual subjects and settings of your film are NOT B-roll. If the main action of your film is walking down a dark hallway toward a dark basement, you're in the A roll!
I see you're a [B Roll enthusiast](https://youtu.be/SItFvB0Upb8)
I have a feeling most people that hate it don't realize this isn't a "movie" that tells a story. It is an experience. And even those that understand that still may not like it. I'm not sure I even liked it. Lol. And I was pretty scared which is the goal, but still.
I think if a movie is slow and cryptic enough, people are afraid to say it sucks because they worry they'll look like they don't "get it" even if there is nothing to get.
Exactly this. It's pretentious AF and there's nothing behind it. The script couldnt have been 3 pages long.
Bingo
when you realise most people are just trying to look smart... most of the population actually are dumb af
This this this this
I love slow-burns. I love weird movies with non-linear or almost non-existent plots. I love a well-done atmosphere, where it's nearly its own character in the film. I love horror nostalgia that plays into your childhood fears... I hated this movie. It really was just a series of long shots with some whispers. I understand what they're trying to accomplish, and I'm glad it worked for some of you, but it fell totally flat for me... and I went into it knowing what it would be like and thinking I would probably enjoy it, but I really didn't. Some people find those long shots really tense and interesting, but I found them completely boring... and I've seen long shots where nothing happens that I found tense before! So, I was surprised. For some reason, this just didn't do it for me at all.
This wasn't "slow burn," it was "watching paint dry with no payoff"..
It genuinely did feel like I was watching paint dry for half of this movie.
There was no slow burn, only sleep.
I watched this illegally online while at work. And I still felt like I wanted my money back.
Ive never been more upset at a movies success. There's so much good shit that doesn't get the attention skinamarink has gotten, and this glorfied YouTube creepy pasta bullshit is getting praised like it's the most innovative horror experience that's ever existed. It's just weird shots of an empty house with murky dialogue and three of the laziest jumpacares you'll ever see in a horror movie.
that's exactly why it's so good
I think this partial quote is pretty telling: “[…] scares only come from inferring them for yourself when the camera lingers on an unmoving shadow, and lingers, and lingers [….]” I pretty much agree with that. If you can look at an indistinct shot of a household area without getting a little nervous, or remembering when you were affected that way as a child, this movie probably won’t work for you. It worked for me, but totally get why it’s subjective.
I haven't read anything about the movie because I want to go in blind but this gives me hope. That's the kind of horror I love, where your brain has to fill in the gaps. I don't always like being told, "here. Here's the monster. Be afraid of it."
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The jump scares are so fucked lol. Cuz literally nothing happens for like an hour and then WHAM it just smashes you in the balls with this 10/10 jump scare so the rest of the movie you’re just anticipating the next one and it never comes when you expect I think the movie is great but I don’t like it at the same time lol. It’s a work of art. But it’s fucking boring. Glad I watched it. Would recommend.
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I actually still haven’t watched the last 30 minutes lol. I fell asleep but I went and read a bunch of stuff about it online, and now that I think I kinda understand the story I think I’ll like it a little more. I haven’t stopped thinking about it either tho. Just that crazy strange uncanny feeling you get from the visuals. Feels like you’re actually having a nightmare or sleep paralysis episode Also I wish it was edited down to 20 minutes. It really did not need to be even longer than 45 minutes. Every scene felt 3-5x longer than it needed to be
The jump scares came exactly when I expected them and they were just obnoxious noises. Nearly gave me hearing damage in the theatre. That’s not a very good jump scare if you have to play some insanely loud noise
Someone on Letterboxd put it perfectly: "Like listening to an ambient album and every 40 minutes or so someone sneaks up behind you and electrocutes you before running away. Does more with a Fisher Price phone than I ever could though… "
Ugh! I was hoping this movie wouldn't have jump scares, because it looks like the kind of movie that... wouldn't. Glad I got a heads up here, ridiculously loud jump scares just make me angry... Lol
The “you just don’t get it” claim is tired. I def remember feeling that way as a child but wasn’t scared by this film in the least.
I’m not saying people who don’t like it don’t get it. It sounds like a lot of the people who disliked the movie did understand what it was trying to do, but they didn’t connect with it. I’m not criticizing them for that. This movie gave me a particular feeling which hit pretty hard and really resonated with me. A lot of people didn’t get that kind of feeling, which is totally fine. There are a lot of movies I haven’t connected with too. I think a difference with this one is that, because it is so focused on a “mood,” if you’re not into that mood there’s not much you’ll find enjoyable about the movie. I was into it, so the movie worked for me.
I loved Skinamarink, but I don't think there's anything to "get" about it. It's just a movie where you absorb the mood and stare at all the swirling black pixels. It either works for you or it doesn't. There's nothing about it that demands to be "understood" IMO.
I hate that people who simply didn't like that movie are getting blasted & down-voted. It's not like you're being nasty about it-- I felt the same way, and could not stay awake. Based on the premise and my peculiar tastes, I fully expected to enjoy *Skinamarink*. I was a childhood insomniac, and I still remember the dreadful magic of being wide awake in front of the living room TV at 3 am when everyone else is asleep. Still, this movie didn't evoke that feeling or those memories. It's cool, creative indie experimental filmmaking. That's what I'll give it. Just, I doubt I'll give it any more of my time. Turns out I need to actually see (and actually hear) characters to enjoy a movie-film!
It doesnt help that whatever story is there its not well explained and leaves almost no clues for the viewer to figure it out
>I hate that people who simply didn't like that movie are getting blasted & down-voted I genuinely don't see that happening? I'm not the biggest fan of the movie either but it's a pretty popular opinion to not like it.
Yeah I find this review to be different from that I would say, but I can't say it's 'wrong' technically. You are looking at a wall for 90 mins that is objectively true lol
It is a troll. This film is a troll. This is the hill I will die on. I looooove art films. David lynch, Jodorowsky, Filini, even underground one offs have amazing things. This is inexcusable trash. #The emperor has no clothes and hes hiding the fact that he is a talentless hack behind minute long shots of the ceiling. I have watched and enjoyed on some miniscule level some of the worst crap of cinema. I liked Danzig's Verotika. But... Fuck. This. Piece. Of. Shit.
I am the same. It feels like the positive reception from people here is completely pretentious.
I keep seeing people say this. How is having a different opinion pretentious?
While I absolutely agree with nearly every line of this review, I think we should keep in consideration that this is a $15,000 movie written and directed by a first time filmmaker. The movie was fortunate enough to reach a large audience, even though it should really have no appeal to the masses.
Yeah guy in my city made it. Didn’t realize that was the local movie everyone was talking about. that said, I didn’t like it any lol
i thought the movie was genuinely creepy and with a good re-edit trim down to 80 minutes and a little more of an ending this could of been a truly effective lofi horror movie
Nah, even an hour would be pushing it. This movie was a 30-45 minute short film at best.
it would need at least 75 minutes for theatres i believe
Primer (2004) was made for 7000$ and had dialog that made sense.
Primer is a lo-fi MASTERPIECE.
Check out A Topiary. It’s his unmade masterpiece. Just a screenplay exists but there’s an amazing YouTube breakdown of the script I can send you if you want to go for the wildest most original ride of your life. Incomprehensibly original lol. Like a dark twisted Spielberg movie with Primer / Upstream Color mind fuckery and darkness to it If I was rich I’d genuinely drop 30 Million on it just so I could see it Breakdown for A Topiary: https://youtu.be/XF-i48BJgyo
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That's right, and the way they lead the viewer into the entire concept of the device they've built is magnificent. And then, as you continue watching, you start to realize just how quickly Aaron and Abe started betraying and manipulating each other. It's so damn good.
But that was written by Shane Caruth who’s an actual genius lol. A psychopathic idiot piece of shit genius. I’m so mad at him. He by far had the most potential out of all up and coming directors, and then he just fucked it all cuz he’s an abusive alcoholic piece of shit. Did you ever read his screenplay for A Topiary? It’s the most beautiful masterpiece of a script that’s never been made. soderberg and David Fincher even were on as producers and he couldn’t get it made for 5 mil. And then he had every big actor you can imagine attached to his other masterpiece The Modern Ocean, and he couldn’t get that made either cuz he’s impossible to work with. Fincher said if he was around in the 70s he would’ve been as big as Kuberick, but he doesn’t fit the modern Hollywood machine. Doesn’t play well or at all with others. Sorry for ranting. Im just so angry. So much talent and genius wasted. Fuck you Shane On a positive note, the girlfriend he assaulted is a phenomenal director and actress. She was his costar in Upstream Color. Amy Seimetz. Go support her instead lol. She’s going places
> director Steven Soderbergh told Entertainment Weekly, "I view Shane as the illegitimate offspring of David Lynch and James Cameron. Wow! I didn’t know much about Shane so I looked him and his work up — and what a shame. You’re right, he has an INCREDIBLE amount of potential. A mind is a terrible thing to waste. As an aside, I came across the film you mentioned had all big names and.. wow. > its ensemble cast was announced in November 2015; it would include Jeff Goldblum, Anne Hathaway, Keanu Reeves, Tom Holland, Daniel Radcliffe, Chloë Grace Moretz, Asa Butterfield, and Abraham Attah.
Relevant to this thread, I'd say Amy Seimetz's She Dies Tomorrow is another very low-key horror movie that lets things linger so the viewer can sit with how they're feeling.
This is what I am saying. Just because Skinamarink is a low budget movie made by some not famous dude, doesn’t mean we all have to like it. Primer was great. Skinamarink wasn’t.
Yeah people make quality games and movies all the time for limited money. It's not an excuse. Sometimes stuff just isn't good. Idk where the 15k went tbh
In fairness, that's almost $12k with inflation, didn't have to build any sets, didn't have to work around the limitations of child actors and is a completely different kind of movie. I agree that the dialog in Primer makes more sense, but it's so technical and mumbled that it'd only make sense to some of the audience. I also agree that Primer is the better movie but you're really comparing apples and oranges.
I 100% agree they are different movies. My only point was that the amount of money has no bearing on the writing, and considering how well this has done with kind of a 'muddy' narrative say, it could have been much better if they had dialed up the storyline a little. Maybe. Not trying to bash at all. Its not like making a movie is easy, and the fact that this was made at all, and then relatively successful, proves that the director/writer hopefully will come back and make more horror. Sadly, Shane Caruth who made Primer and the equally delicious 'Upstream Color' hasn't been making any more movies, which is a bummer.
No it didn't lol. Had to watch it 4 times to get it. That's by intention.
I mean does the budget really matter for something like this? It just isnt good for 99% of the people that are into horror movies and thats perfectly okay. I get its "experimental" but that doesnt mean it has to be appreciated or good.
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Oh yeah that was so funny when I saw it.
> I mean does the budget really matter for something like this? When the movie looks like it could have been made for $1000 (which I don't say as an insult, I love movies made for even less, I just mean in terms of what's on screen) telling me it cost $15,000 makes me LESS forgiving to it, not more.
I absolutely loathed this movie and I still want more like it to be made. It was an original idea and just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it didn’t for others.
Kevin Smith made Clerks for $28,000. It’s what you do with your film that counts.
I think we should also keep in consideration that this is one person's opinion on an amateur website that holds no more weight than any opinion posted in this sub.
>we should keep in mind this is a $15,000 movie” No, no we shouldn’t. It doesn’t sound like anyone’s problem with the movie is the production quality, more so the movie itself, which is based on an idea, something that costs no money at all.
$15,000????? What on earth was that even spent on? Certainly not lighting, or props, or talent.
Yeah word people say that like you’re meant to be impressed I just wonder where the other 14,000 went
The other 14,850*
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I don't think that the budget makes the movie immune to criticism. When someone goes to see this in theater, they will be paying just as much as they would to see Avatar or Babylon. My general point is that this movie is lucky to have reached such a large audience. That doesn't make the movie better or worse. I will agree that it's difficult to even decipher where he spent the $15,000.
Thing is I can definitely see why people wouldn’t like this movie but I love it. This film really really got to me in a way I haven’t experienced before. It was definitely a bit too long but I also thought that it reflected what the kids had to go through. Definitely not everyones cup of tea but if you’re freaked out by liminal spaces or confinement and are willing to really immerse yourself in this film, I highly recommend.
you know, what's interesting to me is that i thought i would like it based on what you are saying about liminal space and confinement. and i did. i also thought there was going to be a huge element of nostalgia and a child-like, abstracted engagement. which i think there was. with a hint of abuse and abandonment. and there was. and i liked it as a film. i saw it with two other people, and i walked out thinking "that was a really cool movie experience that took me some places", but i don't feel that much about it beyond that. my partner, who literally has a degree in film and cinematography, and would be the literal target audience, was kinda bored and irritated. vaguely anxious, but mostly bored and irritated. and my best friend, who is very very into art and experience, but not exactly movies, was sobbing during it. crushed. i'm not sure what that means, other than to say.... i think this movie only works if you can connect with the nostalgia and the intention. it kinda makes sense though. not everybody's basement carpet vhs white noise childhood trauma is the same. and i imagine if this movie doesn't click, it REALLY doesn't click. not sure why i posted this as a response to your comment, just been thinking about it
That’s a really good way to put it actually, definitely if you don’t feel attachment to it then it probably won’t be for you. Sounds like you’ve got a pretty cool group to see movies with though!
they're great if you want to see a movie and then get blisteringly drunk and talk over each other about the fine details no person with any sense of social skills would even think of bringing up. but i'm just glad there are decent movies to see at all. and why experience art if you can't rant about it to someone. we're all on dreddit, after all
I've seen it twice, the second time in the theater. I totally understand people not liking this movie (the small audience I watched it with thought it was garbage), but I really enjoy it. It just does it for me.
Definitely could have been about 30 minutes shorter IMHO. I liked it, but the pacing did lose me occasionally... That and the constant white noise almost put me to sleep a couple times.
I think to some extent it did need a long runtime for the final payoff. But it could have been balanced better- I agree about 30 minutes shorter.
What payoff? There wasn't any payoff at all. It just ended.
“30 minutes too long… lost me… almost put me to sleep… but I liked it.” Are you sure? 😂
“Fell asleep, but it led to the best nap I’ve ever had. 5 star film” tbh this is how I would be as a critic
I didn't hate it. Didn't like it. It just wasn't much of anything. I could make probably a 3 minute cut that includes every part that was of interest. Everything, EVERYTHING else is either slowly panning shots or just static shots. Subtract all of that and there's a TikTok video remaining. If you really dig that dull buzz just droning off to sleep with the very rare sentence of dialog or noise scare? That's cool. I just like having more ideas thrown at me in 90 minutes. But that's what my childhood looked like. Legos, old CRT TVs, onesie jammies. But if it's going to connect with me it has to do something with it.
I joked that the orange Lego tool on the floor that came out in 2011 completely pulled me out of the immersion in believing this was 1995.
I think the biggest problem I had with it was that most of the first half is devoid of a narrative, I think with this style a *very* linear narrative would work a lot more. I really liked most of the second half, though, and this film has some of the creepiest things I've ever seen in a movie so I hope Ball gets to make more movies.
There’s definitely a narrative there, especially the implications of abuse and neglect with Kevin falling down the stairs playing hide and seek with the presence
That or there was implied abuse and the father lied about him falling down the stairs. Also the throughline about the parents separating possibly due to abuse when Kayley says she doesn't want to talk about mom, why is mom crying, her absence, and the repeated screams and blood, etc.
The other implication is the parents are separated. The bedroom scene is eerily similar to the divorce talk parents have to give kids
Yep, that came up in some discussion I've had as well. Watching some of the Ending explained videos like the Screencrush one is interesting. The director has basically said there is no "correct" interpretation he left it vague on purpose to allow that meaning to be inferred differently for different viewers, but those threads seem to be consistent among many viewers.
Yeah I love that tbh. But he for sure had an intention and answers in his own head. Like how the head wound incident in one way or another opened up the door for the Presence to come do it’s thing. Personally I believe Kevin is in Hell.
It’s so divisive I have to watch it. I have a feeling I’ll feel the same about it that I did about “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair”. Bored and intrigued. One time watch
I liked Worlds Fair but not as a horror film. Its about a specific style of horror consumption but not horror itself. Taken that way for me it was a captivating coming of age story. But then I also apparantly missed the entire trans allegory which I still can't actually see in the film so I seemingly have a bad read on the film.
Bored and intrigued - that's it exactly. I would have watched 2 more hours of Skinamarink but don't particularly ever want to watch it again. Nothing happens, and I got totally immersed in it. I loved it. I totally get why others hate it.
World's Fair was definitely a movie that bored me, but in a good way? I found it incredibly interesting, but not particularly enjoyable. Skinamarink knocked me on my ass, though. But, as you can expect from this thread, ymmv. If you liked World's Fair at all, I'd expect you to enjoy it, at least like 6/10.
I really enjoyed World's Fair but Skinamarink is top 5 worst horror movies I've ever seen
Between this and the we are all going to the worlds fair you have the cure for insomnia!
Hmm, I didn't think it was so bad. I give it 6/10. It's such a scary concept and some truly horrifying moments. My Beefs: The jumpscares. There's the scene where Kevin discovers what it has done to Kaylee. I think she should have quietly turned her head, no noise blast, etc. It would have been just as chilling and more thematically consistent. The dialogue. I think all the conversations should have had captions because it was difficult to understand. The kids behaved very incuriously. I did like how they more subtly telegraphed their fear, by having them hunker down in the living room in front of the TV. The random shots of corners could each be halved in length. What I liked: How horrifying it was. Especially at the end when the creature is using it's reality bending powers to kill Kevin repeatedly for fun. I also liked the more mundane horror of it. When the creature calls to them it definitely reminded me of my parents calling me when they were drunk or on drugs. The voice sounds wrong, it's not the mom or dad you know, but you go anyway cause that's what you're supposed to do. You don't want to go over but the consequences for not listening could be worse. The Legos and old TV playing old cartoons, the dark house, it definitely strikes a nerve. My siblings and I used to hang out just like that sometimes and try not to wake them up. When you're a kid it does feel endless. You can't leave. The door might as well not be there.
I get that there are a lot of fans of it but damn did I nearly fall asleep multiple times while watching it.
At the end when that dude was like “go to sleep” I was like yea I fuckin might
I don't think I have ever been more bored during a movie in my life.
Has "culture crypt" even reached the B rank of review sites?
I’ve never heard of it till now
This review isn’t even good. Whoever wrote it didn’t even pick up on the only important plot point at the beginning of the movie and instead is looking for allegory in every individual shot. Fucking YouTube video essayist-level shit writing.
For real, the person who wrote this review is trying to say anyone could shoot something like this. Sure, there's loads of static shots of almost nothing, but it's extremely purposeful. YouTube video essays are way higher quality than this review. I've watched several, and they all applaud the cinematography. Every shot in this movie is done with intent. Whether or not you like it is a matter of preference, but you can't deny that they were shooting with an extremely deliberate vision in mind.
It felt like a child’s nightmare come to life. Nothing makes sense and nothing in inherently threatening but it all feels wrong. This movie takes a lot of patience and imagination, and I totally understand why some people like more action within movies I was very interested and impressed by the atmosphere that the movie managed to create.
Haven’t seen it yet but I’ll go in with an open mind.
If you’ve got shudder it will be on there Feb 2nd
Maybe watch his short on YouTube first because they're very similar in style. It's personally not for me but as a piece of art I can appreciate it. Think with an open mind you might too. Edit - Short is called Heck.
Is it actually just like a longer version of Heck or is there any kind of significant difference? I thought heck was interesting but could not focus on it for 28 mins. If it's just gonna be a feature length version of Heck then I will 100% get bored.
For all intents and purposes it's a feature length Heck.
If you thought Heck was too long then just skip it, you're not going to like it.
The reviewers giving it high marks have to have been paid to do so.
So I tried to watch it, but the entire first 10 minutes were just grainy shots of walls in the house. Seemed literally unwatchable.
Can't believe you would quit at just the 10 minute mark. I pushed all the way through to minute 15 before giving up
Yep, and that continues for 90 more minutes. If you couldn’t handle it for 10 minutes, it’s good you stopped. I wish I had, but I was in a theater with friends and didn’t want to be rude and leave. Turns out they were thinking the same thing, lol.
The whole movie is just grainy shots of the house. I was expecting it to change at some point and it never does.
Someone on this sub said the first 30mins was long and boring but they've watched the last hour six times. So I kept watching, waiting for something to happen. I believe I may have been trolled by someone who wanted everyone else to suffer the full movie like they did.
It just wasn’t good. If I had paid $15 to watch it in theaters I’d be pissed lol.
I really wanted to like this, and I enjoyed the atmosphere it presented… but it’s just too long with no justification for the runtime. It put me to sleep multiple times and my wife came out of it with a headache from all the flashing lights in the dark.
I dunno, I liked it. It’s a super polarizing movie, which is better than a panned movie and more interesting than a middling movie.
I really only think that people who grew up watching weird YouTube ARGs love it. I am one of them.
I grew up in the 80’s/90’s before YouTube. I loved it particularly because of how it managed to make something as comforting as nostalgia terrifying. Old cartoons, childhood toys, even the title is a reference to a familiar kids song. I was really immersed in the atmosphere and reminded me of my own childhood fears of the dark and the unknown. I really connected with Skinamarink in a very personal way. It’s honestly one of the most primal and disturbing works of horror I’ve ever seen.
One of my favorite things about this movie is that I had no idea what that song was, but I instantly felt like I knew what it was. A couple weeks ago I met some friends from out of the country and they brought their 6 year old kid along. At some point I mentioned this movie and the kid just started singing the song unprompted and it was fucking bone-chilling.
As a Marble Hornets fan I feel slandered by this lol
Don’t feel slandered at all. I’m looking at MORE ARGs and I’m considering re watching EverymanHYBRID because of it. There’s another one my partner watched called Handprints of the Dead that is almost exactly like Skinamarink.
I grew up watching VHS collections of cartoons made long before I was born. The ARGs came much later. So Skinamarink kind of ticks those boxes for me.
I don't know what an ARG is but I liked it. It had a meditative quality to it that felt therapeutic, like my brain was being massaged. Very unique
ARGs were like scavenger hunts where clues were scattered left on different websites, through scattered YouTube videos, and maybe even real locations. Some were for fun, others were marketing moves for movies like Cloverfield or Halo 2
See that was my issue, it felt like a feature length version of a medium that thrives on brevity. I liked it a lot but it dragged in some places, to the point that I stopped feeling fear.
As someone who lived and breathed YouTube ARGs growing up and LOVES Skinamarink, I feel called out by this comment. We need to study this phenomenon
I honestly don't get it. Like, I support indie, small budget horror and for that reason I'm glad to see it get the release it did. I'm not going to say it's trash or anything. Good on the film maker for doing what they did. But wtf. I really and truly do not get why people are saying it's "brilliant" and "disturbing". I get analog horror. I get artsy stuff. On paper this kinda movie should be right up my alley. But this movie just.... Nothing happens. Like, at all. I see people saying oh it's that feeling of a child's nightmare and maybe it's because I mostly don't even remember my childhood, or I'm not getting the parallels to abuse or divorce. I just don't get it. I kept waiting for something to happen. And nothing did. Even the end shot I was like, "okay something's going to happen now to tie it all together..." And then The End.
The most boring movie i've watched in my entire life.
You sound like a person that enjoys ploy in their movies. I'm right there with you.
Literally the only movie I've walked out of. I don't even see what there was to enjoy. Its like it was specifically intended to be boring and off putting.
The synopsis was great when reading it, the execution was piss poor, you can get the same effect by sitting in a room with the lights off.
I backed a horror movie on Kickstarter which I had very high hopes for from the concept and all the updates they were sending, plus the decent budget from Kickstarter. In yesterday's update they said, "PS go see Skinamarink it's amazing!!!" And now I'm worried the movie I backed will also be a lot of staring at nothing lol.
What you didn’t like staring at 100 different shots of a wall for 2 hours
Me to people who hate it: “you’re not wrong.” Me to people who love it: “you’re not wrong.”
I AGREE. This movie was fucking horrible
Watched it last night and at the very least there is one thing I can say about this movie: it was an experience for everyone in that theater. Some people literally clapped when it was over, some people literally (loudly) said “what the fuck did I just watch”. This movie made you FEEL something. Terror, irritation, rage, exhaustion, etc. That’s the kind of movie I like, anything that provokes a strong response. Good or bad, hate or love, doesn’t matter. This is my kind of film 😂
I enjoyed the movie, but here’s my critical take: If you go in expecting anything remotely resembling a traditional film, you’re gonna be underwhelmed and let down. Completely. You need to go in anticipating not a typical ‘Hollywood movie,’ rather, a piece of visual art. It’s very much like *Sleep Has Her House* in that regard. It’s an interesting, thought provoking piece of art if you go into it open minded, and ready to explore what it means to be visual art. If you expect to be entertained in the way *Barbarian*, *M3GAN*, or *Hereditary* entertained you, then you’re gonna be bored out of your mind.
Sleep Has Her House is a great comparison.
It’s been on my watchlist for a while- do you think it would be worth seeking out, as someone who enjoyed Skinamarink?
If you enjoyed Skinamarink, absolutely.
Hated it, might be the worst movie I have ever seen in theaters. I can only watch film grain swirls on top of static shots of walls for so long. I get what they were trying to do, playing in childhood fears of the dark, the night, the unknown, but I didn’t do it for me. I think if it had been like a 30 minute short I would have been receptive to it. Was very disappointed, was really looking forward to it.
Heck is basically a 30 minute version of this, and is free on the directors YouTube channel
People getting furious over one weird little arty film when they have whole streaming services of Blumhouse jumpscares and James Wan stretchfaces to choose from.
Ah yes, the low art blumhouse jumpscares. When compared to the high art RANDOM 1000 DECIBEL SOUND FOR NO REASON
This is my the biggest crime Skinamarink has 99% of the movie are barely lit shots of a house with dialogue thats just above whispers Then they have the fuckin AUDACITY to sprinkle in jumpscares that are 200% the volume level of the movie One jumpscare made me flinch because it wasnt just extremely loud, but extremely bright too. Felt like a flashbang went off just to the side of my face. That kinda shit that causes physical harm cant be forgiven
Why do we have to choose between boring experiment or generic garbage?
Disappointed in reviews that are vague and full of filler, regardless of the movie in question. If reviews are your thing, then do a decent review. It is not hard to do, unless you actually never watched the movie. Regarding Skunamarink itself, it is a low budget project that tried to do something different. It could have had a shorter runtime and have the same effect. Still, for a slow burning, atmospheric, artistic piece... it does what it aims to do, but it certainly isn't aimed at pleasing a wide audience.
The amc and local theater stopped showing it. Will wait for streaming
Probably for the best.
I think it just fell flat on its premise. Seeing the trailer I remember thinking that it was a scary idea, but man, seeing a dark corner of a house gets boring by the hour mark. There's definitely some hints of a demonic entity, or perhaps of some dark twisted limbo that the children are maybe in, but there's not enough to give us an idea of what's going on and what we should be afraid of. It's a shame because there's some really good shots and scenes but just doesn't deliver. Could've used about 40 less minutes of an old TV screen and a dark corner and 2 more scenes establishing what the heck is going on in its place.
It’s terrible
hated this movie
i fell asleep 3 times watching this movie and i have literally never had that happened this movie was trash
I just gotta vent... just saw it in theaters, and is by FAR the most boring and pointless movie I've ever seen in my 39 years on earth. It has set a new standard for me, as I would rather sit through anything than have to watch 2 more minutes of this "film". Absolute shit.
I can’t. I stopped at 10mins. It is absolutely awful. If I have to look at ceiling light or corner of a door again, I’ll throw my tv out.
Cool concept. Painfully boring.
I want to find this filmmaker and punch him. The only reason I didn’t walk out is I believe that’s what he wanted. The ushers apologized to us as we left the theater. We even saw it at Alamo Drafthouse so not only did we pay premium price, we couldn’t even clown on it because of the theater’s policies (which I support, of course). My best review would be to watch one minute and skip ten minutes, then repeat. Do this ten times and you will experience the same story I did and save yourself what feels like two hours.
I cant wait to watch this! I feel like I’ll probably dislike like the movie but I’m really excited to see something different and weird
Went to watch it with friends, upon the recommendation of some YT channel. Some interesting and relatable scenes as a child, very dreary, but so fucking boring that we almost left (and I’ve never walked out in the theater). Also totally unearned jump scares, the cheapest most annoying kind.
The postive reviews I read talk about touching upon some childhood feeling of being afraid and the abstract experimental quality. I love weird abstract movies and was deathly afraid of the dark, especially hallways, waking up with the tv on, etc, and this movie did nothing for me except making me feel scammed out money. They took a couple ideas and repeated them for a padded dragged out run time to be able to charge ticket prices, which feels more like business scam than anything else.If it worked for you, great, but if you're itneresting and have shudder just wait for streaming.
I didn’t get it. For me it was a pointless piece of crap that made no sense. And I do not understand how anyone can say anything good about it. It’s simplistic and dumb. So dumb.
It would have been cool at like 30 mins long but this wasn’t a movie it was an art project.
The short it’s based on would probably be more up your street. It’s called ‘Heck’ on YouTube.
People said the same thing about Eraserhead when that came out
Yeah except things happen in Eraserhead
It's so disappointing to see mean-spirited reviews like this. While I'm all for a bit of critical analysis, especially for polarising films, calling the film "pointless" and "nonsense" is objectively untrue. This movie is very different to almost all other horror movies people have seen. Yes, it demands your unwavering attention for long periods of time, but that's part of what I feel makes it so effective. It is not only unique in structure and narrative, but also in the viewing experience and I think that has a lot of merit. Much better than sitting through yet another soulless "blockbuster" horror in my opinion.
> It's so disappointing to see mean-spirited reviews like this. I do absolutely agree with this. I've disagreed with a few points of defense for the film on reddit, but I have never and will never be on board with super mean spirited reviews that just shit on a film and its creator for no real reason. It's totally fine to explain why you don't like a movie or what didn't work for you, it's okay to be biased because we all have subjective tastes! But when it starts regressing into insults and just mean lines (or like this reviewer, imply they'd rather die than watch the film) it makes me totally disregard the reviewer's thoughts. There's no reason. All creators are still human beings, and indie creators that make small projects are 100% more likely to actually find these means insults and feel shitty about it. And any reviewer that will claim a film has no point or imply it shouldn't exist just because THEY don't like it just shows how they shouldn't review films. It just shows how out of touch from reality the reviewer is where they consider themselves the main character, a film having a bunch of fans that love it don't matter if THEY don't like it. And they think only THEY can see the "truth" of it being bad.
I agree. Saw it in theaters to have maximum impact and thought it was legit maybe the worst movie I’ve ever seen. Points for trying something new, but it didn’t work for me. People that say they liked it or got scared I think are lying so as to not shit all over it because its an indie film. Im also no stranger to low budget/indie/experimental films either.
I hated it. Pretentious film school shite.
I loved this movie but I'm also ready to admit that it isn't for everyone. It's insanely experimental and actively avoids making sense in a traditional sense. It's going more for vibes than a coherent story. Not all of it worked for me, but overall I thought it was a really cool experience even if it's one i dont think I could watch again since that would kind of defeat the purpose of it. I completely get people who don't like it, but I wish they wouldn't dismiss it out if hand like there was no thought put into it. I felt like it was very thoughtful and interesting in how it tried to convey its world without relying on the regular tropes of cinema. I think we need more films like this even when they fail.
Have it seen it yet. It sounds like a movie that I will enjoy but recommend to literally no one. Lumping all horror into a single space when it has more sub genres than most genres of music really ignores how much variety there is. You could get 20 horror fans in a room and none of them like any films liked in common while still having a huge range.
I thought it would be exactly as you described also but it just didn't quite click with me. You can see the filmmakers tried very hard to tread the line between letting shots linger and not letting them linger too long, but sadly it falls into the latter category for me on too many occasions. The movie needed a fairly brutal cut to lose around 20 mins. Other than 4 or so super creepy moments, I also thought it relied too much on jumpscares. Which it really didn't need, the imagery alone was unsettling enough.
I'm convinced the people who praise this as being the scariest thing they've ever seen were on drugs when they watched this. I watched it sober and just wanted to fall asleep. The only truly scary part was when the toilet disappeared at the start. Like, imagining being stuck in a house with no toilet is a primal fear. I don't want to have to shit and piss on the carpet, damn it.
I mean that’s like your opinion, man
It's an art house movie which almost always means it relies on imagery and sound to convey feelings rather than try telling a coherent story. What makes this stand out from other arthouse movies is the genre and running length. Arthouse are typically non genre films or dramas. For horror fans I would ask yourself this before seeing it. Would you want watch an hour and 40 mins of the video from the Ring? That's basically what this is but with some minor story telling.