‘Skinamarink’ is being hailed as a masterpiece, bringing childhood horrors to the big screen.
Analog horror movie Skinamarink has made 60 times its budget since its release in theaters on January 13. Skinamarink, which is Kyle Edward Ball’s directorial debut, has made $890,000 at the box office, Uproxx reports. The movie follows the experience of two young children after they find themselves alone in their home without their parents.
Skinamarink’s $890,000 profit may seem like nothing compared to the almost $2 billion of Avatar: The Way of Water and other top-grossing box office movies, but the $890,000 is being celebrated because it is 60 times the worth of the movie’s $15,000 budget. Being an experimental movie, the horror film was filmed in the director’s childhood home in Edmonton, Canada, and even the scenes with toys were his.
In an interview with Fangoria, Ball said they used the toys his mom had saved from childhood, which made the filming more personal for him. He added that his parents were great hosts for him and the production team. Skinamarink’s success is like the success story of the underdog hero that comes out on top despite not having the best opportunities like its other competitors. With little budget and a simple set, Skinamarink is a movie that will be remembered in the history of horror movies. With the movie being called a masterpiece, Ball credited David Lynch, Stanley Kubrick, and experimentalists like Stan Brakhage and Maya Deren for influencing his craft.
If you haven’t heard about the movie, it is a horror story about two young children Kevin (Lucas Paul) and Kaylee (Dali Rose Tetreault) who awake one night only to find out that they are alone at home with their parents nowhere to be found. In addition to that, they discover that they have been locked in their house by supernatural forces with no means of escape and no adult to take charge of the situation. The children deal with the scary situation by taking refuge with each other while playing games and watching cartoons. However, their attempt to work through their unfortunate predicament doesn’t work as they start to hear voices echoing throughout the house, beckoning them into the darkness.
The movie was filmed digitally in low light with everything embodied in grainy static in a setting that makes every scene feel like a nightmare come to light. Watching Skinamarink may remind viewers of the childhood feeling of being afraid of the dark and the horrors that the mind of a child can conjure when in the darkness of a home.
Skinamarink is coming to Shudder in February. Checkout trailer below: