Skinnamarink, a classic nursery rhyme transformed into supernatural evil. This anthology movie’s goal was to capture the eerie fear that we’ve all felt as a kid looking at the dark or seeing the closet open and not fully remembering closing it. Filmed in director Kyle Edward Bell’s childhood home with only a $15,000 budget and using the unique executions made throughout his directing style, Bell described the extremes of childhood fear filmed as if it actually happened.
Kids Kevin (played by Lucas Paul) and Kaylee (played by Dali Rose Tetreault) both wake up one night in a quiet, empty house. Both of their parents are missing, but so is something else… all of the doors and windows are missing.
The unique style of this movie captures the fear you have as a child looking at the dark and feeling deep in your gut that there’s something there–waiting for you. The camera angles and cinematography almost never show a face, if all it was someone’s legs in the frame of the camera. Camera shots show directly on a certain part of the screen for minutes at a time where the audience would use their other senses to determine what was happening like listening. Screams, whispering and the loud buzz of the camera made the whole movie bring the ‘skinnamarink’ monster to life, where a camera angle pointing at a dark hallway for minutes at a time makes the viewer feel like something’s going to jump out leading to a feeling of constant anticipation.
The origin of the odd word “skinnamarink” comes from the popular nursery rhyme that was mostly sung all throughout the 1900s. The director then took the thing most people dance and sing to for comfort and turned it into horror.
Some people may find aspects of this movie to be completely boring with the repetitive amount of camera angles pointed away from the central action or the amount of whispering throughout. However, the artistic intent really hits home by producing oppressive anxiety. As a viewer, I was left confused, disturbed and uneasy.
This creature created a feeling similar to the Blair Witch Project, where you never really know what the monster looks like, but you get a strong sense when they’re there. Coming from a former latchkey kid, the feeling of coming home to an empty house with no parents and practicing what to say if I’m forced to answer the door was scary. That’s why this movie hit so close to home–the constant fear built up in my chest, and the familiar sound of a completely empty house spooked me.
Overall, the director really captured everything there is to a horror movie but just filmed it in a different way. This movie targeted a specific audience that likes to dive deep into the meanings of movies and who take a certain way to get the creeps.
