The creepiest moments in the horror genre often come down to a single question provoked by slowly dawning terror; a certain degree, strategic or otherwise, of visual frustration; or a bit of both. Wait. What am I seeing here? That is the question.
With the Canadian nano-budget paranormal film “Skinamarink,” opening this week in theaters and streaming later this year on Shudder, the answer’s a bit of both, and the movie’s casting a spell more than it’s causing a lot of screams.
Writer-director Kyle Edward Ball’s hazy, grainy childhood reverie of nocturnal fear draws on memories and images familiar to millions (count me in!) whose early years were lit by the cold, clinical glow of a TV surrounded by a dark house. More directly “Skinamarink” comes from a 28-minute short film Ball made in 2020 called “Heck,” which led to this expanded 100-minute work after he crowdfunded $15,000 to make it happen.
