In several of the most disturbing shots of skinamarink not much happens. The image remains static, at awkward angles, as you focus on a wall or floor. In the background, you can hear how plastic toys collide with each other and the laughter of a child.
It can also be deduced from the movement of the subjective camera that there is an attentive and invisible observer. But what could be a run-of-the-mill plot twist on a terrifying premise is turned into something more elaborate by dint of cinematic skill. Gradually, it transforms into a harrowing tale of domestic horror that is startling in its cruelty.
Beyond its virtues as a visual experiment, skinamarink, from director Kyle Edward Ball, managed to find another way to delve into the cursed places. The entire plot takes place in a windowless room. With the script’s focus on two children, the only witnesses to what appears to be a supernatural event, bet to the minimum.
However, this is not an artificial minimalism or a story put together thanks to editing. The filmmaker managed to sustain a narrative with discrete elements used skilfully and well conceived.
skinamarinkthe film that demonstrated the effectiveness of an ingenious script
So much so as to create a dense atmosphere based on scenes shot at forced or awkward angles. The room in which both characters meet, the central stage of the production, is then transformed into an unhealthy labyrinth. Later, on a border towards the supernatural realm. Much more when the story progresses and becomes a real nightmare that appeals to the viewer’s claustrophobia.
Likewise, the film does something else. He opposes two points of view and manages to involve the public in his sick tone. The contradiction about how an adult could behave in the midst of a similar circumstance and the child’s optics is horrifying. An item that skinamarink it will explode repeatedly. On the one hand, to hint that what is shown could be unreal. On the other, that in reality it is a brutal fact of which there are hardly any indications.
The horror film that relies on few settings and characters
The feature film of just 100 minutes and a simple story, became a viral phenomenon. At the same time, in a demonstration of the flexibility of horror cinema to allow new explorations of its traditional tropes. In the middle of both perspectives, skinamarink It is a triumph of independent cinema. Shot with $15,000, obtained through a crowdfundingthe production managed to raise the sum of 895,000. This, despite the fact that its premiere was limited to screening in 692 independent theaters in the United States, and without any other publicity than its virality.
For Ball, the success of skinamarink it is a combination of decisions. From taking the risk of shooting with equipment borrowed from the cooperative Film and Video Arts Society of Alberta, even the aesthetic style. The feature film appeals to the primal fear of terrifying events that begin with little things. The director told Variety that the production was born from the idea that fear is a collective phenomenon.
I have a channel Youtube where people comment on the nightmares they’ve had and I tell them how I would recreate them,” he explained. “The most shared were basically the same concept. I am between 6 and 10 years old. I’m at home. My parents are dead or missing and there is a threat I have to deal with. I was interested in that, because I also had a terrifying and vivid dream of something similar. I thought it was amazing that almost everyone seems to have the same image (in their mind). So I made it into a movie.”
skinamarinkfrom being an experimental project on the internet to reaching the big screen
Initially, the promotion of skinamarink relied on a series of comments in Reddit that they insisted that it was “the scariest story of the year”. Soon, the film was illegally leaked and several of its scenes made it to TikTok. “I think people thought we had no distribution and that they were doing us a favor by hacking,” Ball told Variety. “The next thing that was clear was that there was an audience for our story.”
But it was his argument that ended up allowing skinamarink make the leap from being an internet phenomenon to a project that aroused the interest of the specialized press. In fact, he was in the selection of premieres of the Fantasia International Film Festival of Canada, in which it received an honorable mention.
Ball managed to build a realistic environment, based on directly recorded sounds and the feeling that, off-screen, a monstrous event is taking place. The camera subjectively explores corners, moving shadows and a television screen, the only link with the outside world of the victims. It soon becomes clear that Kevin (Lucas Paul) and Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault) are being watched. That whatever happens involves an indirect approximation of an observer willing to commit a heinous act.
Lastly, the filmmaker played with aesthetics to make the entire footage appear to be part of several different pieces of footage. skinamarink he guards his secrets carefully. So much so that the story does not reveal what happens until minutes before the end. The answer is also not so clear or rational. A plot twist that gives the film, perhaps, its best sequences.
The great triumphs of horror movies come in small format
In recent years, low-budget and independently produced feature films have become a phenomenon in Hollywood. Since Terrifier 2: The Sinister Clownfrom Damien Leone, an unexpected blockbuster in 2022, to the disturbing X from Ti West. Terror with minimal resources it has almost become a subgenre in its own right.
Of course, this is not a recent circumstance. In 1999, The Blair Witch Project it became one of the most lucrative productions in movie history. Its directors, Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, used the internet to create a massive reaction that preceded its premiere at the Sundance Festival.
The mythology around the argument, which during its first weeks never revealed that it was not a real footage, conquered the public. With an investment of $60,000, he managed to raise $248.6 million. What marked a milestone in cinema, gave rise to the subgenre found footage and opened the doors to a whole series of similar proposals.
Another success in the same vein is the Blumhouse franchise Paranormal activity. In 2007, director Oren Peli produced a terrifying fantasy using technology’s reaction to an alleged supernatural event. Costing $15,000 to produce, it earned $193.4 million in profit and was the start of a profitable saga.
skinamarink combined both methods in a version of the phenomenon for a new generation. From the rumor on TikTok that some images were true until it was actually a discovered footage of a dark event. All the buzz surrounding the premiere allowed it to become more than just a clever publicity stunt.
The future for independent terror
chosen by letterboxd as one of the great sensations of the genre during 2022, skinamarink has a long way to go. For now, it has achieved formal distribution in North America thanks to IFC Midnight. Which would allow it to reach international markets during the first six months of this year.
Undoubtedly, skinamarink it is a far-reaching event. The Shudder platform announced its premiere for February 2 and there are rumors that Ball’s next project will be financed by Blumhouse. But whatever the director’s next step is, it will be a tribute to effort and discreet work.
“I think people who come from more humble backgrounds deserve the chance to make a movie if their idea is a good one,” Ball said. “I also think it’s a better product. Having more voices from more corners of the world makes for more interesting movies in the long run.” A statement that his success seems to reaffirm.