Skinamarink: To Prey On Nostalgia
I'm sure you guys remember a few nights where you're watching TV real late at night as kid. Maybe at your parent's house, or maybe even a friend's house. There'd be a point where the rest of the house would go to bed, and it'd be you, the silent house, and the glow of the TV. Maybe you stay at the TV for awhile, but then, you eventually would have to turn the TV off, and make it to your bed. For me, specifically, this would end up in a blind sprint toward the safety of my bed. This sense of dread was so palpable as a child, that fear of the unknown, and not knowing what could be lurking in the dark is still present as an adult. Skinamarink, a 2022 movie directed by Kyle Edward Ball, is a divisive horror film, made up of long shots of dark hallways, garbled audio, and an ever-present analog fuzziness, in both sound and visuals. Now I'm not gonna say anything about this movie that hasn't already been said at length by film analysts, but what I came here to say is that this movie is a look into the world through the lens of childhood. Low camera angles and a higher ISO make this movie uniquely horrifying. The noise of most shots make the darkness swirl and move, almost as if something is there. Dimensions of rooms are unclear until light is shone from an adjacent hallway. The beat by beat story is almost like someone remembering a traumatic event from their childhood in real time. I have a deep respect for this movie and what it did for the horror genre. I know I've had several conversations with the Rig Designer guys about "analog horror" or "found footage" movies, and this movie is a standout example of the true horror of the "analog" genre.
