Skinamarink

I can not tell you how much i hope every year that some director will bring us something original in a horror film. I have no problem with someone using classic horror ingredients in a horror film, as long as they make a good film out of it. The problem is that far too often we get films that will not be remembered after they are released because they clearly don´t have a lot to offer the horror fan base. A film maker who clearly believe in the film they are making will not be afraid to take chances and try something different, instead of making a film just to cash in on ticket sales. There are actually horror films that does go in a different direction, and it is especially these films that i am personally interested in. Let´s just dig into one film that i am pretty sure all of you have not heard of because it is a French-Belgian film called Raw. Originally released at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016 and directed by Julia Ducournau ( director of the controversial psychological body horror drama film Titane, a must watch ), Raw tells the story of vegetarian Justine ( really well played by actress Garance Marillier ) who begins her first semester at veterinary school. On her first night in her students room, she meets her roommate Adrien ( Rabah Nait Outfella ), and they are forced to partake in a week-long welcome ritual, welcoming the new students. They are brought to a party, where Alexia ( Ella Rumpf ) shows Justine old class photos of students bathed in blood, including one with their parents. The next morning, the class is spalttered with and is forced to eat raw rabbit kidneys. Justine refuses because she is a vegetarian, but Alexia forces her to eat one. It is after this incident Justine begins to notice that she feels the need to eat raw meat, which makes her personality change completely. Raw is a very interesting and fascinating portrait of a woman who begin her journey into cannibalism. This is the kind of horror film that you don´t see very often, that has both really strong characters and especially a very interesting story. Be patient though, because once this film kicks in and becomes bizarre is when Raw works best. If you have not seen Raw i highly recommend you pick it up on DVD or Blu Ray, and try to get the UK Blu Ray from Second Sight Films that is filled with lots of special features. Since last year i have heard a lot of talking about a very different horror film called Skinamarink. What i understand this film only cost 15.000 U.S. Dollars and took in over 2 million U.S. dollars at the box office so you can not deny that they made a profit there. Since i am curious to see something different in the world of horror, is Skinamarink the most original horror release in recent years, or is the buzz surrounding this film way out of proportion ?

It is the year of 1995, four-year-old Kevin ( Lucas Paul ) injures himself in what his six-year-old sister Kaylee ( Dali Rose Tetreault ) says is a sleepwalking incident. Kevin is taken to the hospital and brought back home. The Father ( Ross Paul ) calls someone and tells them that the hospital didn´t need to give Kevin stitches and he only hit his head. Some time later, the two siblings wake up in the middle of the night to find that their father has seemingly disappeared and that the windows, doors and other objects in their house are gradually vanishing as well.

I think it is best that we are honest right from the start, and it´s completely fine if you don´t agree with me in my review of Skinamarink. Just because a film is supposed to be different and tries to be original does not mean it has to be good. You can try making a film to be different but you also have to make the film interesting. This is one of the issues i have with Skinamarink, because if they would have done this film differently with some clever ideas we might have something interesting here. What we are left with instead is a horror film that tries to come across as ground breaking but i get a feeling that somewhere along the way the message of the film was lost. The biggest issue that i definetely have with Skinamarink is how boring this film is for being a horror film. 100 minutes of runtime and barely anything happens, and if you need that long playtime to make your film you might want to try and tell an interesting story. I understand that this film tries to show how you as a child might experience a nightmare scenario, and i don´t think the idea itself is bad. The problem is that the film itself does not feel that scary while you try and keep yourself awake, not from falling asleep. How about the characters in this film? Honestly you don´t really care much about them the very few moments you hear any of them say anything. And i don´t really understand why there are scenes with whispering, is this supposed to keep us awake or fall asleep? I am at the age of 46 this summer and i can honestly say that Skinamarink might be the most boring horror film i have seen in my entire life so far. Director Kyle Edward Ball did try and make a different horror film than we are used to see, too bad he didn´t make this film any interesting. When you have nothing more to say about a film in a review you know it is a bad sign, and perhaps that is the case for Skinamarink. All i know is that horror fans might as well skip this one and choose something more interesting. Do yourself a favor and check out Raw that i mentioned earlier and you know you will get a quality horror film. Anyone have problems sleeping? You won´t need sleeping pills, Skinamarink will help you sleep better than ever.

Rating: D