Film Review : "Skinamarink"

This movie is going to gain at least cult status with the traction it's getting because you have not seen anything like it before. That does not mean it is a good movie, as in order to accomplish this story telling and writing is out the window. It is very similar to when I review music, you find a band that has a sound like you have never heard before, while that novelty might hold your interest for the first five minutes of the album. Eventually the question becomes, but can you write a song? Movies are telling a story. They can look cool or in the case of this low budget art film, look different, but what is the story being told? That is not to say there is not a story presented in the weird, hushed darkness of this film, it is just obscured by the director’s stylistic choices. I am not sure there was an actual script for this, the making of this movie is so baffling in and of itself I am sure it could have been shot over the course of a weekend.  

 Imagine "Eraserhead" merging with "the Blair Witch Project:" and you are in the right ballpark if you factor in not really getting to see any of the actors more than the back of their head or feet for the entire movie, so perhaps this is shot from the perspective of their cat. It is creepy and it does create an unsettling mood. The fact that the two protagonists are small children, is the weird balance of what works with kids in horror movies. I am fine with kids getting killed or hurt in horror movies if it is well done and serves a purpose driven by the story, "Pet Cemetary" is a prime version of this. It is also handled really well in Boris Karloff ‘s “Frankenstein. But the fact these kids are so young and the situation they are put in is so unnerving that it seems like overkill where they go with this. The fact it happens off camera is a must. 

Is this worth watching? Well as an experience, yes not a lot happens for the bulk of the movie with creepy segments of interactions with the kids. Much like HP Lovecraft it is what you do not see that is the scariest, and this movie does not give you a great deal to see. We can talk about the mood it creates and the atmospheric manner in which it is shot, but at the end of the day it is what really killed this movie for me. By just getting surreal, they do not have to tell the story, they can offer up an idea and present the concept of what they are doing, but if you want them to make it go somewhere then I am sure there are art house gatekeepers who will defend this by saying it would be selling out to write an end. I joke while watching this that this is the film adaptation of the book “House of Leaves” . Both leave you with more questions than answers. Not something I would watch again, but I would read “:House of Leaves” as it is a puzzle that is worth solving while this movie is not. But if you like weird experiences this is that.