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Skinamarink

 Skinamarink
type
TVTItem
 Skinamarink
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Skinamarink
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Skinamarink
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Skinamarink is an independent horror film written, directed, edited, and crowdfunded by Kyle Edward Ball. It premiered at Fantasia Film Festival in July 2022, was released in theaters in North America on January 13, 2023, and was also released on the streaming platform Shudder on February 2. The director’s short film Heck (2020) is a proof of concept for this movie.Kaylee and Kevin are two children who live with their father. One night, their father makes a phone call, and states that Kevin recovered well from a fall down the stairs. By the time what should be morning rolls around, it seems to still be night time. Kaylee and Kevin can't really tell because all windows and doors in the house have vanished, along with their father. They camp out in front of the TV with their toys and wait for him to return, but it seems that they're not alone...
 Skinamarink
fetched
2024-04-26T02:01:40Z
 Skinamarink
parsed
2024-04-26T02:01:40Z
 Skinamarink
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DBTropes
 Skinamarink / int_10a51060
type
Dress-Coded for Your Convenience
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comment
Dress-Coded for Your Convenience: As we almost never see the children's faces and the low light and tight shots make it hard to see each child's clothing, one can tell who is whom as Kevin wears socks whereas Kaylee goes barefoot.
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Evil Sounds Deep
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comment
Evil Sounds Deep: The entity speaks in a deep whisper that's often so distorted it's difficult to understand what it's saying without subtitles.
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The Blank
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comment
The Blank: Kaylee is turned into this by the entity, becoming a sort of human version of the family's windowless, door-less house. Later, this happens to all of the children's family photos as well.
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 Skinamarink / int_1c5002bc
type
The Stoic
 Skinamarink / int_1c5002bc
comment
The Stoic: Even considering naivety, several critics have pointed out how Kaylee and Kevin take their horrific circumstances with much less emotion than they would realistically exhibit practically from the beginning of the supernatural occurrences. This could be read as the children simply not having the maturity to properly assess the severity of what's happening to them, or perhaps it's related to the film's themes of abuse and neglect, and that whether for reasons supernatural or mundane, they've become conditioned to accept the horrors as they are.
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Black Comedy
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comment
Black Comedy: The scene where a bucket is pushed where the toilet was, prompting one of the characters to matter-of-factly say "gross" gets one of the rare intentional laughs that's had audiences in stitches.
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Chekhov's Gag
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comment
Chekhov's Gag: A very dark version of a "gag": in one instance of the kids falling asleep in front of their TV, the cartoon that they're watching suddenly begins skipping and repeating a short segment over and over, including its audio. After the 572-day Time Skip, we get a shot of blood splattering over a carpet, un-splattering, and re-splattering, accompanied by a distorted version of the same whimsical sound effects from the cartoon. The implications of what's happening in this reality are... not pleasing.
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Uncertain Doom
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comment
Uncertain Doom: Kaylee vanishes after the midway point of the film, with her last appearance showing that the entity has removed her eyes and mouth. While it implies that she's still alive at the finale of the film, her ultimate fate is left ambiguous.
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Gravity Screw
 Skinamarink / int_2864490b
comment
The entity beckons for Kevin to come to the second floor, where his light goes out. After a long period of darkness, Kevin's flashlight comes back on again, except he's now standing on the ceiling. Upon the entity's insistence, Kevin crawls to the other end of the hallway and enters the bedroom, where he's seemingly grabbed and dragged away... and away... and away.
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Darkness Equals Death
 Skinamarink / int_2c77fae3
comment
Darkness Equals Death: The house is dark, what with the lack of windows and doors to the outside — while the film starts at the dead of night, there comes a point in time where even the children wonder if it should be morning, but they don't even get the benefit of natural sunlight. As a result, there are many passages featuring shots of very dark rooms only lit by flashlights, the faint glow of a television, or some other ambiguous ambient source that slowly fade as the horrors progress. Some of the most uncomfortable moments feature shots that are almost entirely dark, but last long enough that your eyes begin to adjust and you start to notice something just sitting there...
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type
Crystal-Ball Scheduling
 Skinamarink / int_30cb4d04
comment
Crystal-Ball Scheduling: The cartoons on the television seem to parallel what is happening to the children: A cartoon of two children falling asleep and being transported into a dreamscape as Kevin and Kaylee are getting used to sleeping in their new always-night environment. Another depicts crows having a funeral after Kaylee says "Why is mom crying?" Most notable is the "Presto Chango" cartoon, showing a rabbit that changes shape and disappears altogether. Not only does the cartoon foreshadow the phone scene and ending, but it also mirrors the powers of the demonic entity in the house. The figure on the bed fading away at the end of the film fades in an upward wipe reminiscent of the Presto Chango rabbit disappearing.
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type
Impeded Communication
 Skinamarink / int_31655611
comment
Impeded Communication: As soon as the children discover that not only have the windows and doors to the outside disappeared, so has their father, they to call someone on the phone (either 911 or possibly their mother or another family member), but can't get it to work, instead resulting in an ominous droning noise. Later, Kevin makes another attempt at a 911 call and successfully reaches someone on the other end, but as soon as the dispatcher tells him "the adults are on the way," the call suddenly dies, with Kevin noticing the phone has inexplicably become a toy.
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The Unintelligible
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comment
The Unintelligible: The entity's voice has so much distortion and reverb on it that, unless it's subtitled, it's almost impossible to make out what it's saying. The effect is rather similar to EVP recordings of ghosts.
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Reality Warper
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comment
Reality Warper: The entity seems to have the ability to rearrange the house and its inhabitants at will.
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Flat Character
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comment
Flat Character: No one in the family really has an arc to speak of, and they're pretty slightly developed. The audience doesn't even get to know what they look like.
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Face-Revealing Turn
 Skinamarink / int_42d7e070
comment
Face-Revealing Turn: Multiple are set up: When Kaylee investigates her father's bedroom, a humanoid figure that appears to be the father is seen sitting up on the side of the bed facing away from her, and when she approaches, he requests her to look under the bed. She doesn't see anything, but when she looks back up, she instead sees a woman that appears to be her mother sitting in the same position. She exchanges a few words to Kaylee, asking her to close her eyes, but when Kaylee reopens her eyes... she's gone again. Later as Kevin is drawn to the basement, he finds Kaylee, saying that she's scared and feels strange, leading in with a shot of her laying down on the ground in darkness. Hard cut to reveal that her eyes and mouth are completely missing. Even later on, as Kevin wakes up in a panic following his presumed Eye Scream, a figure that appears to be the mother figure from before walks in and gently sits down beside him, but the only proper angle we get of her is the back of her head. Nothing immediately comes of this as Kevin instead bolts for the phone.
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Cut Phone Lines
 Skinamarink / int_4720744e
comment
Cut Phone Lines: A supernatural example. One of the first things Kaylee tries to do once she realizes something is wrong is try to call someone (presumably their mother) and then the police for help. Both attempts fail with the dial tone being replaced by a droning buzz. Kevin tries again later in the film and does manage to get through to the police, but the entity turns the phone in to a toy midway through the call.
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Skinamarink / int_4720744e
 Skinamarink / int_479d4e5a
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Would Hurt a Child
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comment
Would Hurt a Child: The villain would. Many times, possibly for eternity.
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I Want My Mommy!
 Skinamarink / int_48cffdb7
comment
I Want My Mommy!: Late in the film, during the scene of blood splashing and un-splashing onto the carpet as we vaguely hear what sounds like Kevin screaming, we get a single silent subtitle strongly implied to be from Kevin: "mommy". Considering the ambiguity surrounding his relationship with his mother, one has to wonder if he's calling out for her for a specific reason, or if it's just a desperate reflex admidst all the horror he's facing.
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type
Analog Horror
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comment
Analog Horror: Skinamarink definitely borrows a lot from the genre: the film grain, the nineties setting, the focus on liminal spaces, and a villain of unclear origin and power.
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Gory Discretion Shot
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comment
Gory Discretion Shot: The entity forces Kevin to stab himself in the eye, and after the Time Skip repeatedly does something to him that causes blood to drench the carpet, but we never see the actual act. We do hear Kevin's bloodcurdling screams though.
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type
Downer Ending
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comment
Downer Ending: There is no escape from the house, and the children are either dead or being tortured for all eternity by the entity.
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Wham Line
 Skinamarink / int_4e7c4536
comment
Wham Line: One for those who don't know whose face lost its eyes and mouth. One of the biggest shocks in the movie doesn't come from a noise or an image, it's just a two words of on-screen text.
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Wham Shot
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comment
Wham Shot: Given the film's minimalist editing and propensity towards sudden, abrupt cuts, there are several: Early in the film, Kaylee and Kevin investigate a loud noise coming from the dining room, with the next shot revealing the source; one of the dining chairs inexplicably standing on the ceiling. The entity beckons for Kevin to come to the second floor, where his light goes out. After a long period of darkness, Kevin's flashlight comes back on again, except he's now standing on the ceiling. Upon the entity's insistence, Kevin crawls to the other end of the hallway and enters the bedroom, where he's seemingly grabbed and dragged away... and away... and away.
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 Skinamarink / int_549a92e7
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Minimalism
 Skinamarink / int_549a92e7
comment
Minimalism: Skinamarink gives films like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity a run for their moneynote Almost literally — Blair Witch had an estimated initial production budget of $35k that ballooned to around $200-500k for post-production, Paranormal Activity started with $15k that jumped to $215k in post, while Skinimarink has a bona fide $15k budget in just how stripped-down you can make a horror film — the cast is extremely limited and most of the time are barely visible, the setting is limited to a single household, there's very little active visuals and camera movement, the storytelling is raw and heavily ambiguous, and even the actual scares aren't nearly as graphic as the implied subject matter suggests. Despite this, its surreal presentation and immersive atmosphere makes it no less haunting.
 Skinamarink / int_549a92e7
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Skinamarink / int_549a92e7
 Skinamarink / int_550754dc
type
Improbable Infant Survival
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comment
Improbable Infant Survival: Played with. Kaylee apparently disappears after her face is stolen, but the villain speaks of her as if she's still alive. Kevin is also apparently still alive by the end of the film, but may have been severely injured or even killed and brought back to life several times.
 Skinamarink / int_550754dc
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Skinamarink / int_550754dc
 Skinamarink / int_5cbb67eb
type
Pocket Dimension
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comment
Pocket Dimension: One theory for where the children are and why it's perpetually nighttime. There may also be separate pocket dimensions for each child after Kaylee's face is wiped. She disappears from the film at that point but may be the figure dissolving on the bed in the finale.
 Skinamarink / int_5cbb67eb
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Skinamarink / int_5cbb67eb
 Skinamarink / int_61a503a7
type
Hell Is That Noise
 Skinamarink / int_61a503a7
comment
Hell Is That Noise: There are numerous strange sounds from cryptic sources. Considering that the protagonists are isolated children, it's unsurprising this takes its toll.
 Skinamarink / int_61a503a7
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1.0
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 Skinamarink / int_652bf890
type
Drone of Dread
 Skinamarink / int_652bf890
comment
Drone of Dread: The dial tone on the landline phone turns into this when Kaylee tries to call someone at the beginning of the movie, becoming a loud, nauseating buzz.
 Skinamarink / int_652bf890
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1.0
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Skinamarink / int_652bf890
 Skinamarink / int_68068108
type
Evil Laugh
 Skinamarink / int_68068108
comment
Evil Laugh: The closest the Entity comes to showing emotion is a long, raspy, mocking laugh upon interrupting Kevin's attempt to call for help and him asking it how it did that, and it lets another one out when it is doing a "Groundhog Day" Loop of it killing one of the children over and over.
 Skinamarink / int_68068108
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Skinamarink / int_68068108
 Skinamarink / int_72d31973
type
Surreal Horror
 Skinamarink / int_72d31973
comment
Surreal Horror: The goings-on of the movie are hard to describe even as a paranormal occurrence. The furniture and exits of the house vanish, the children's parents appear and disappear, walls restructure themselves, objects stick to walls, and Kaylee even loses her face.
 Skinamarink / int_72d31973
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 Skinamarink / int_7870735b
type
From Bad to Worse
 Skinamarink / int_7870735b
comment
From Bad to Worse: Happens in quick succession in the first act: First the children find their father is gone and the doors and windows to their home have vanished, then the lights begin to fail and the home gradually falls to darkness, and then the children realize something else is there with them too. The capper is Kaylee's disappearance halfway through the film, leaving the Entity to focus on torturing Kevin.
 Skinamarink / int_7870735b
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Skinamarink / int_7870735b
 Skinamarink / int_7abba202
type
The Faceless
 Skinamarink / int_7abba202
comment
The Faceless: Nobody's face is ever seen except one instance with Kevin, and only occasionally are their bodies even glimpsed- usually, they are represented through their footsteps, shadows, or off-screen actions. In fact, one of the rare times we do get a clear look at a character, the key features of her face are missing.
 Skinamarink / int_7abba202
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Skinamarink / int_7abba202
 Skinamarink / int_7f67e11
type
The Night That Never Ends
 Skinamarink / int_7f67e11
comment
The Night That Never Ends: The house continues to be in complete, pitch-black darkness even long after the children are sure that morning must have come. Since all of the windows are gone, it’s not like there’s any way for sunlight to get through, after all.
 Skinamarink / int_7f67e11
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 Skinamarink / int_7f75baa
type
The Public Domain Channel
 Skinamarink / int_7f75baa
comment
The Public Domain Channel: The protagonists watch a lot of cartoons, all of which happen to be in the public domain. This makes sense, given the movie's 90s setting, because at the time, bargain bin VHS tapes of public domain cartoons were a cheap sale for video production companies.
 Skinamarink / int_7f75baa
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 Skinamarink / int_82a631b8
type
Present-Day Past
 Skinamarink / int_82a631b8
comment
Present-Day Past: A minor case occurs with the LEGO toys filmed in the movie—several of the brick pieces visible did not exist in LEGO's repertoire in 1995, having not been designed and added to its parts catalogue yet.
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Skinamarink / int_82a631b8
 Skinamarink / int_82accf22
type
Gainax Ending
 Skinamarink / int_82accf22
comment
Gainax Ending: The film's ending is even more oblique and strange than the rest of it, and that's saying something. The architecture of the house seems to have broken down completely, Kaylee's fate is extremely ambiguous, and Kevin has been stuck inside with the nameless evil thing for over a year. We see what may be the face of the monster, but it's obscured and refuses to give its name, instead demanding that Kevin go to sleep. And then the film ends. Borders on No Ending.
 Skinamarink / int_82accf22
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Skinamarink / int_82accf22
 Skinamarink / int_8370a793
type
Mature Work, Child Protagonists
 Skinamarink / int_8370a793
comment
Mature Work, Child Protagonists: While their father and mother are briefly seen, the two child characters are the main protagonists of this movie. Part of the horror that goes on comes from the kids being simply too young to understand how dire their situation is once the Entity shows up. The only other adult in the film besides the parents is a 911 operator that Kevin calls partway through the film. And given that the Entity is a Reality Warper, said operator might not even be real.
 Skinamarink / int_8370a793
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 Skinamarink / int_853b7948
type
Ambiguously Evil
 Skinamarink / int_853b7948
comment
Ambiguously Evil: Kevin and Kaylee's mother is periodically hinted at to be an antagonistic figure, but to what degree and why is heavily unclear. She doesn't appear to live with the rest of the family, and when Kevin wonders aloud if their missing father perhaps "went with mom", Kaylee nervously replies "I don't want to talk about mom." She (or at least something that resembles her) suddenly appears when Kaylee explores her dad's bedroom, but all she does is gently tell her "Your father and me... we love you and Kevin very much," before disappearing. To make things even more complicated, she (or whatever is impersonating her) appears to quietly sit down beside Kevin as he sleeps, but later events show whatever entity Kevin is trapped with actively and maliciously torturing him. The framing makes it ambiguous if the evil entity and the maternal figure are one and the same or not, and whether or not the latter is supposed to be the children's literal mother remains unanswered.
 Skinamarink / int_853b7948
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Skinamarink / int_853b7948
 Skinamarink / int_863fa679
type
What Happened to the Mouse?
 Skinamarink / int_863fa679
comment
What Happened to the Mouse?: The film opens with the audience learning that Kevin had been taken to the doctors after hurting his head, supposedly from falling down the stairs while sleepwalking. While one can extrapolate and analyze their own theories from the scene, the film otherwise never directly acknowledges or refers to these elements ever again.
 Skinamarink / int_863fa679
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Skinamarink / int_863fa679
 Skinamarink / int_8e3b5b4d
type
Minimalist Cast
 Skinamarink / int_8e3b5b4d
comment
Minimalist Cast: Only six characters total (Kaylee, Kevin, their mother, their father, the entity, and the phoneline operator), and only four are credited.
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type
Object Ceiling Cling
 Skinamarink / int_8f47a3a0
comment
Object Ceiling Cling: Played for horror. In the first instance, Kaylee notices that one of her dolls is inexplicably stuck on the ceiling. While processing that, she gets scared by the entering Kevin, who ends up distracting her from the doll. Near the end of the film, the entity makes Kevin close his eyes and then lifts him up onto the ceiling, after which it starts dragging him away into... somewhere.
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type
Time Master
 Skinamarink / int_908ad334
comment
Time Master: The villain, considering the looping cartoon clips, blood splatter, and how Kevin is implicitly still alive long after he should have died of malnutrition.
 Skinamarink / int_908ad334
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1.0
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Skinamarink / int_908ad334
 Skinamarink / int_91672d3e
type
Children Are Innocent
 Skinamarink / int_91672d3e
comment
Children Are Innocent: Played for horror and heartbreak: Kaylee and Kevin are simply too young to understand the gravity of some of the things that happen to them, so some of their early reactions to things like the windows and doors disappearing come off as rather subdued compared to what an adult in the same situation might have. Mind you, they still understand that something is wrong, but with no adults to guide them, all they have is their gut reactions to the increasingly disturbing events they're subject to, with mild worry turning into bona fide terror.
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Skinamarink / int_91672d3e
 Skinamarink / int_916c72b3
type
Rule of Symbolism
 Skinamarink / int_916c72b3
comment
Rule of Symbolism: Most of the cartoons shown throughout the movie have a recurring motif of two helpless protagonists tormented by an all-powerful antagonist seemingly for its own amusement, not unlike Kevin and Kaylee's very own predicament. They also foreshadow some of the entity's powers, including its apparent ability to rewind time. The kids appear to be fond of Legos, and have built a crude structure out of them which they can be seen reshaping in early sequences of the movie. The entity has the ability to treat the house itself as a similar toy.
 Skinamarink / int_916c72b3
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1.0
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Skinamarink / int_916c72b3
 Skinamarink / int_95b7c400
type
Faux Affably Evil
 Skinamarink / int_95b7c400
comment
Faux Affably Evil: The entity has a single moment like this. Shortly after Kaylee's disappearance, it drags all the Legos and toys it had stuck to the wall back onto the floor and tells Kevin "I want to play." Very shortly afterwards it forces him into a self-inflicted Eye Scream. Near the end, when Kevin quietly asks "can we just watch something happy", the Entity seems to oblige...and shows him the front door of their house. Something that would, and perhaps after all the time that's past the only thing that could inspire any happiness or joy: an exit from this hell he and his sister have been in for two years. But, of course, this is just a façade. It's just letting him "watch" something happy. It's not actually going to let them go. There is no escape.
 Skinamarink / int_95b7c400
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1.0
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1.0
 Skinamarink
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Skinamarink / int_95b7c400
 Skinamarink / int_970c790a
type
Big Bad
 Skinamarink / int_970c790a
comment
Big Bad: The nameless, faceless entity that has taken over the house serves as our antagonist. Manifesting almost exclusively as a disembodied voice, it is seemingly all-powerful within the confines of the house and capriciously, pointlessly cruel, tormenting the defenseless child protagonists for seemingly no reason at all.
 Skinamarink / int_970c790a
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1.0
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Skinamarink / int_970c790a
 Skinamarink / int_9bee1a7f
type
Eldritch Location
 Skinamarink / int_9bee1a7f
comment
Upon the entity's insistence, Kevin crawls to the other end of the hallway and enters the bedroom, where he's seemingly grabbed and dragged away... and away... and away.
 Skinamarink / int_9bee1a7f
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1.0
 Skinamarink / int_9bee1a7f
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 Skinamarink
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Skinamarink / int_9bee1a7f
 Skinamarink / int_9c550e26
type
Word Salad Title
 Skinamarink / int_9c550e26
comment
Word Salad Title: "Skinamarink" (also spelled as "Skinnamarink" or "Skidamarink") is the name of an old children's song, but the song never even appears in the film, and its nonsense title is never otherwise referred to.
 Skinamarink / int_9c550e26
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1.0
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1.0
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Skinamarink / int_9c550e26
 Skinamarink / int_a2b38d3b
type
Eye Scream
 Skinamarink / int_a2b38d3b
comment
Two points in the movie have explicitly violent things happening. Both times, the camera doesn't show the subject of the violence anywhere on-screen, leaving it up to the viewer to imagine what's happening instead. In one instance, the Entity forces Kevin to put a knife in his own eye, complete with Kevin screaming in pain. In another instance, there's a splattering sound as blood coats part of the scene, but is then instantly cleaned up, only to splatter across the scene again.
 Skinamarink / int_a2b38d3b
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1.0
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Skinamarink / int_a2b38d3b
 Skinamarink / int_a8a04f6f
type
And I Must Scream
 Skinamarink / int_a8a04f6f
comment
And I Must Scream: The fate of both children, seemingly. Kaylee even loses her mouth just like the trope namer.
 Skinamarink / int_a8a04f6f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_a8a04f6f
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 Skinamarink
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Skinamarink / int_a8a04f6f
 Skinamarink / int_a9b15ce4
type
Deliberate VHS Quality
 Skinamarink / int_a9b15ce4
comment
Deliberate VHS Quality: Released in 2022, the film has an especially grainy, lofi look to it, adding to the ambiguous and unsettling atmosphere of the experience. Kyle Edward Ball confirmed the film was shot digitally, with the grain being an effect added in post-production.
 Skinamarink / int_a9b15ce4
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1.0
 Skinamarink / int_a9b15ce4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
Skinamarink / int_a9b15ce4
 Skinamarink / int_abad35b4
type
Soundtrack Dissonance
 Skinamarink / int_abad35b4
comment
Soundtrack Dissonance: In between the tense or horrifying events occurring elsewhere in the house, we always cut back to the still, dark, dreadful air of the living room scored by the lively, whimsical music of the golden age cartoons playing on TV.
 Skinamarink / int_abad35b4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_abad35b4
featureConfidence
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hasFeature
Skinamarink / int_abad35b4
 Skinamarink / int_ad7a381d
type
P.O.V. Cam
 Skinamarink / int_ad7a381d
comment
P.O.V. Cam: Most of the movie is shot from very high or low unusual angles that are nothing like how a human would generally view the scenes as they occur, yet there are a handful of scenes shot handheld to better simulate first person perspective from one of the characters.
 Skinamarink / int_ad7a381d
featureApplicability
1.0
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featureConfidence
1.0
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hasFeature
Skinamarink / int_ad7a381d
 Skinamarink / int_b11ac9f5
type
Abusive Parents
 Skinamarink / int_b11ac9f5
comment
Abusive Parents: A possible interpretation of the children's mother. Kaylee refuses to talk about her and she seems to be somehow related to the villain. Like many things in the film, this is left uncomfortably ambiguous. It's also a prevalent theory that the father is lying when he tells someone that Kevin fell down the stairs, which is a popular excuse for explaining away bruises resulting from familial violence. The entity itself behaves like a parental authority. It has "control" over the house, which it cruelly lords over the children, giving them arbitrary and even harmful orders then punishing them if they disobey.
 Skinamarink / int_b11ac9f5
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Skinamarink / int_b11ac9f5
 Skinamarink / int_b2af79fb
type
Leave the Camera Running
 Skinamarink / int_b2af79fb
comment
Leave the Camera Running: Many shots are of different parts of the house, including closeups on the ceiling, carpeted floor, and even just ones of total darkness. Most of the time, nothing happens during these scenes. Most of the time.
 Skinamarink / int_b2af79fb
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1.0
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1.0
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Skinamarink / int_b2af79fb
 Skinamarink / int_b31c84f9
type
Evil Is Not Well-Lit
 Skinamarink / int_b31c84f9
comment
For a good chunk of the film, all there is to see is grainy darkness. Evil Is Not Well-Lit is in full effect here, as the overwhelming darkness of the movie is only lit sparingly, and what is easily visible is usually unsettling.
 Skinamarink / int_b31c84f9
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1.0
 Skinamarink / int_b31c84f9
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Skinamarink / int_b31c84f9
 Skinamarink / int_b3bdf232
type
Alien Geometries
 Skinamarink / int_b3bdf232
comment
Alien Geometries: The house becomes warped beyond coherence after the timeskip. Hallways are nightmarishly long and lead nowhere, doors are twelve feet tall, and parts of the house appear to be floating in a disembodied void.
 Skinamarink / int_b3bdf232
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1.0
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featureConfidence
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Skinamarink / int_b3bdf232
 Skinamarink / int_b661954a
type
Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere
 Skinamarink / int_b661954a
comment
Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: The setting of the film is what appears to be an average suburban household, but the plot is kickstarted when the windows and doors to the outside suddenly disappear without explanation, instead being replaced by more walls. Even the toilet disappears, presumably due to its plumbing connecting to the outside world.
 Skinamarink / int_b661954a
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 Skinamarink / int_b661954a
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Skinamarink / int_b661954a
 Skinamarink / int_bef696dd
type
Mind Screw
 Skinamarink / int_bef696dd
comment
Mind Screw: How and why did the doors and windows disappear? What happened with the children's parents, and why doesn't Kaylee want to talk about their mother? What is the entity that's tormenting them, and how much of what's going on is directly its fault? And that's not even getting to the questions raised by the last ten minutes of the film, where things really start to break down.
 Skinamarink / int_bef696dd
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1.0
 Skinamarink / int_bef696dd
featureConfidence
1.0
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hasFeature
Skinamarink / int_bef696dd
 Skinamarink / int_c04b1231
type
Jump Scare
 Skinamarink / int_c04b1231
comment
Jump Scare: There's a few especially pronounced ones, such as Kaylee trying to find her mother in her room, only to be met with an inhuman squeal, and later on with Kevin discovering Kaylee's eyeless and mouthless face. In general, the film's minimalist cinematography and editing causes even basic shot transitions to come across as this. With cameras remaining in static positions for long periods of time, simple shot-to-shot becomes jarring, especially as the night goes on and rooms become more ambiguous, surreal, and darkly-lit, making new sights even more unsettling.
 Skinamarink / int_c04b1231
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Skinamarink / int_c04b1231
 Skinamarink / int_c145f69b
type
Subverted Trope
 Skinamarink / int_c145f69b
comment
When Kaylee investigates her father's bedroom, a humanoid figure that appears to be the father is seen sitting up on the side of the bed facing away from her, and when she approaches, he requests her to look under the bed. She doesn't see anything, but when she looks back up, she instead sees a woman that appears to be her mother sitting in the same position. She exchanges a few words to Kaylee, asking her to close her eyes, but when Kaylee reopens her eyes... she's gone again.
 Skinamarink / int_c145f69b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_c145f69b
featureConfidence
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Skinamarink / int_c145f69b
 Skinamarink / int_c25f7913
type
By the Lights of Their Eyes
 Skinamarink / int_c25f7913
comment
There's a moment where as Kevin wanders through the dark halls, we get a shot of near-total darkness sans a very faint pair of eyes suddenly staring right at you. Then Kevin shines a flashlight on it, and it turns out it's just a toy phone with a cartoon face. But then Kevin turns off the flashlight and it becomes clear those are NOT the same eyes. Kevin turns the flashlight back on and but it's just the toy phone again. And then its face suddenly contorts.
 Skinamarink / int_c25f7913
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Skinamarink / int_c25f7913
 Skinamarink / int_c3c18143
type
Hope Spot
 Skinamarink / int_c3c18143
comment
Hope Spot: Kevin manages to make a call to the police, but the entity turns the phone into a toy halfway through the call.
 Skinamarink / int_c3c18143
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_c3c18143
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Skinamarink / int_c3c18143
 Skinamarink / int_c49935fa
type
20 Minutes into the Past
 Skinamarink / int_c49935fa
comment
20 Minutes into the Past: The film received a wide release in 2023, and is set in 1995.
 Skinamarink / int_c49935fa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_c49935fa
featureConfidence
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Skinamarink / int_c49935fa
 Skinamarink / int_ca87e3ec
type
No Name Given
 Skinamarink / int_ca87e3ec
comment
No Name Given: The entity in the house is never identified with a name, if it even has one, and when Kevin directly asks for it, it simply ignores him. Also, Kevin and Kaylee’s parents, although they presumably do have names.
 Skinamarink / int_ca87e3ec
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_ca87e3ec
featureConfidence
1.0
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Skinamarink / int_ca87e3ec
 Skinamarink / int_cdfe12c3
type
Nothing Is Scarier
 Skinamarink / int_cdfe12c3
comment
One of the biggest shocks in the movie doesn't come from a noise or an image, it's just a two words of on-screen text.
 Skinamarink / int_cdfe12c3
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_cdfe12c3
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 Skinamarink
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Skinamarink / int_cdfe12c3
 Skinamarink / int_d99a228f
type
Unusually Uninteresting Sight
 Skinamarink / int_d99a228f
comment
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: A justified case. Kevin and Kaylee react to their initial situation, with the doors and windows of the house disappearing, the phone no longer working, and them no longer being able to keep track with how time is progressing, with mild bewilderment and confusion. Being a four and (possibly) six year-old child respectively, they're simply too young to fully grasp the direness of their situation.
 Skinamarink / int_d99a228f
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 Skinamarink / int_d99a228f
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Skinamarink / int_d99a228f
 Skinamarink / int_dda12cb3
type
Cat Scare
 Skinamarink / int_dda12cb3
comment
Cat Scare: While observing her doll floating in the air, Kaylee suddenly drops her flashlight and screams. Turns out, she was only reacting to Kevin startling her. There's a moment where as Kevin wanders through the dark halls, we get a shot of near-total darkness sans a very faint pair of eyes suddenly staring right at you. Then Kevin shines a flashlight on it, and it turns out it's just a toy phone with a cartoon face. But then Kevin turns off the flashlight and it becomes clear those are NOT the same eyes. Kevin turns the flashlight back on and but it's just the toy phone again. And then its face suddenly contorts.
 Skinamarink / int_dda12cb3
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1.0
 Skinamarink / int_dda12cb3
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 Skinamarink
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Skinamarink / int_dda12cb3
 Skinamarink / int_e085feeb
type
Broken Record
 Skinamarink / int_e085feeb
comment
Broken Record: In the trailer, the announcer just repeats "In this house..." over and over again with slight changes in pitch. This is seemingly one of the signs that the entity is present, as the TV will suddenly start looping the same few seconds over and over again. Later, this also happens with whatever the fuck is happening to Kevin that's causing blood to splatter all over the carpet.
 Skinamarink / int_e085feeb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Skinamarink / int_e085feeb
featureConfidence
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hasFeature
Skinamarink / int_e085feeb
 Skinamarink / int_e2a6ebc1
type
Closed Circle
 Skinamarink / int_e2a6ebc1
comment
Closed Circle: The house is an extreme example, with all the windows and doors literally disappearing overnight. While the electricity initially remains functioning, the lights gradually begin to fail and eventually leaves the glow of the Television as one of the only remaining sources of light in the home. At one point, Kevin does get through to a police dispatcher, but then the entity turns the phone into a toy.
 Skinamarink / int_e2a6ebc1
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 Skinamarink / int_e2a6ebc1
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Skinamarink / int_e2a6ebc1
 Skinamarink / int_e9e35e8f
type
Exact Words
 Skinamarink / int_e9e35e8f
comment
Near the end, when Kevin quietly asks "can we just watch something happy", the Entity seems to oblige...and shows him the front door of their house. Something that would, and perhaps after all the time that's past the only thing that could inspire any happiness or joy: an exit from this hell he and his sister have been in for two years. But, of course, this is just a façade. It's just letting him "watch" something happy. It's not actually going to let them go. There is no escape.
 Skinamarink / int_e9e35e8f
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 Skinamarink / int_e9e35e8f
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Skinamarink / int_e9e35e8f
 Skinamarink / int_f2407aff
type
Infinite Flashlight
 Skinamarink / int_f2407aff
comment
Infinite Flashlight: Played for horror. Even after an unnaturally long period of use by characters who likely aren't even able to replace the batteries, flashlights that the characters heavily rely on to see much of anything still work.
 Skinamarink / int_f2407aff
featureApplicability
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 Skinamarink / int_f2407aff
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Skinamarink / int_f2407aff
 Skinamarink / int_fe64d5a1
type
Evil Is Petty
 Skinamarink / int_fe64d5a1
comment
Evil Is Petty: The entity will punish the kids in the most horrific ways if they don't want to "play" with it. It takes away poor Kaylee's eyes and mouth, and makes the terrified Kevin put a knife in his eye for not immediately obeying the command to go into the kitchen. It's not like it even has a valid reason to reprimand them, considering it can make them do anything anyway.
 Skinamarink / int_fe64d5a1
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type
ItemName
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comment
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Skinamarink

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Skinamarink
hasFeature
Always Night / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
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Canadian Movies / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
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Films of the 2020s / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
Go-to-Sleep Ending / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
I Want My Mommy! / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
Mature Work, Child Protagonists / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
Minimalism / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
Rule 34 – Creator Reactions / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
The Public Domain Channel / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
20 Minutes into the Past / int_bac37992
 Skinamarink
hasFeature
Word Salad Title / int_bac37992