Some movies are destined to become cult classics before they even come out. Skinamarink is one of those films. The low-budget horror film from writer and director Kyle Edward Ball is about “two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.”
Here’s more:
To cope with the strange situation, the two bring pillows and blankets to the living room and settle into a quiet slumber party situation. They play well worn videotapes of cartoons to fill the silence of the house and distract from the frightening and inexplicable situation. All the while in the hopes that eventually some grown-ups will come to rescue them. However, after a while it becomes clear that something is watching over them.”
But the plot synopsis doesn’t do the trailer justice. It’s genuinely disturbing, like if Eraserhead-era David Lynch directed The Blair Witch Project in the 1970s. “In this house,” a disembodied voice repeats over whispering children and mysterious noises. No wonder it’s gone viral on “platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and Letterboxd,” according to Variety, and been called “the scariest movie I have seen in a very long time.”
Skinamarink, which stars Lucas Paul, Dali Rose Tetreault, Ross Paul, and Jaime Hill, hits theaters on January 13, 2023 before debuting on Shudder later in the year.