Skinamarink Director Teases The Presence Of Person Hidden In The Darkness Of One Scene

Released on an ominous Friday the 13th in January of 2023, "Skinamarink" burrowed its way under audiences' skin almost immediately. The purposefully nonsense title is taken from a nursery rhyme, but this horror movie was actually trying to keep audiences up at night rather than calm them down. The unsettling film is shot in a manner in which the audience is either looking at a corner or down a hallway, but never at anyone's face. It takes place in 1995 as two young children wake up home alone in a house without any doors or windows. In order to keep themselves from being scared, they watch VHS tapes of old cartoons which provide the only light in their darkened living room.

They soon find they are not actually alone as demonic voices in the dark give them commands and guide them around their haunted domicile. Barely visible dolls and legos hang off the walls and ceilings, and noisy toy phones find inopportune times to shriek in the night. The movie captured the essence of a childhood nightmare, showing how scary it can be for a child left alone in the dark. "Skinamarink" was actually shot in the director's childhood home, and the film was made to look like old 8mm home movies, with images barely poking through the screen. 

Although the film was shot digitally, the false grainy look of the film provided its sinister uneasiness. Director Kyle Edward Ball was able to hide an eerie presence in a shot in the movie that fans are no doubt going to try to discover.

"Skinamarink" puts viewers at total unease by never letting them get a full view of the house in which it takes place and by hiding what's lurking inside. The director, Kyle Edward Ball, adhered to a rigid set of rules when filming the movie, such as never leaving the house or including any music in the film. One shot in the film has a purposely hidden visage that the director doesn't think viewers can spot.

Director Ball told Inverse, "There is one shot in the movie where there is someone, a real person, standing in the dark." Don't ask the director where that person is, however, as he said he'll never say where that shot is. He continued, "I thought it'd be creepy for this shot to pull it down so much, but not so much that they disappeared completely. I'll never tell, and that's the magic. Maybe a video forensicist will find it one day." With all the hidden creepiness in the film, knowing that at one point something is standing looking at an unsuspecting viewer makes the whole experience even more creepy.

"Skinamarink" caused Twitter to lose its collective mind, and it became a viral sensation on Tik Tok and Reddit after the film leaked online after screening at the Fantasia International Film Festival. The piracy led to TikTok users and Redditors posting scenes from the film as a "copypasta," much like internet creepypastas. The film was already signed to be released by IFC Midnight and Shudder for Halloween 2023. The leaks and shares led the distributors to move the film up to the different, but still creepy, Friday the 13th of January release. 

The film is now playing in theaters and will be streaming on Shudder soon.