Skinamarink is the feature film debut of director Kyle Edward Ball, who also wrote the screenplay and shot the film in his parents’ home. The Canadian low-budget film cost just $15,000 and went from an insider tip to a box office sensation. Because with It grossed over $2.1 million worldwide, 140 times the production cost on again. Skinamarink is now available for home cinema.
Next to the Blu-ray version * Skinamarink appears DVD * and of course there is also the scary shocker Stream * on Amazon Prime.
Bonus material:
Audio commentary by director Kyle Edward Ball and cinematographer Jamie McRae
The unusual success story of Skinamarink
In his home country of Canada, director Ball showed his work at a few film festivals, but in the USA it suddenly opened widely in 692 cinemas. It wasn’t just word of mouth, especially a leak sparked the hype. As Variety reports, due to a technical error on one of the festival platforms, Skinamarink made its way onto the internet illegally and received so much attention that cinemas bought the indie shocker.
Skinamarink – Trailer (German) HD
Since then, the film’s incredible scariness has been hyped on social media. A fan on Twitter writes: Even if you don’t think it’s that scary at first when you watch it, you suddenly can’t get to sleep anymore. Skinamarink offers the subtle horror that we know from films like Paranormal Activity or Blair Witch Project: an idea of what is lurking there, but not really tangible. This kind of horror continues to have an effect and plays tricks on us when we ourselves lie in the dark at night.
Even though the film is often compared to the Blair Witch Project because of its success story, the young director rather influenced by other and much older films. He stated in an interview with the horror magazine Fangoria that Wavelength (1967) and the slasher film Black Christmas (1974) were considered inspiration.
That’s what the horror shocker Skinamarink is all about
Four-year-old Kevin (Lucas Paul) and his six-year-old sister Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault) wake up in the middle of the night. Her parents are nowhere to be found and what’s even stranger is that all the windows and doors inexplicably disappear. The siblings drown out the silence with cartoons and toys until a voice speaks to them from the corners of the house.
The incredibly young age of the protagonists alone offers an unusual and exciting perspective. Too young to understand what is happening around them, they are at the mercy of what is happening and we as viewers have to witness the horror through the naive eyes of children.
*. If you purchase or take out a subscription via these links, we receive a commission. .