Skinamarink is the movie version of when you're laying in bed for hours trying to fall asleep and your brain decides to jumpscare you with the scariest mental image you've ever had and your bathroom sink has a leaky faucet that sounds way too similar to someone whispering from outside your bedroom door
I always equated it to being scared as a child but your mom had enough of you being scared and wants to sleep so you just stay awake, staring t nothing being scared of everything you don't see.
I love hearing other people try to articulate why this movie scared them, as I also tried to explain it to people and was left being like 'there was like. things moved? a doll was on the ceiling and i hated it. people were whispering.' and you can hear yourself losing braincells as each word leaves your mouth
"there were some eyes and it turned out they were the eyes on one of those toddler telephones, and the toddler telephone made a spooky face at me. I couldn't sleep for a week"
The thing with this is that it isn't a 'you just don't get it' movie, it either causes you to react viscerally to it due to whatever nonsense is going on in our brains or it does absolutely nothing except cause stultifying boredom. Both reactions are entirely valid.
I think this movie reflects back your own childhood trauma. Reasonable, happy upbringing? Boring as shit. Trauma that haunts you to this very day and colors your every moment, invades your dreams, and leads to difficulty forming healthy relationships? This movie gunna fuck you up
I watched this movie the last day it was playing in theaters and I had such an awful time during it I had to keep thinking about McDonalds the whole time to keep me sane. Best movie experience I’ve had in years
I feel the same about the jumpscares, at first i thought they were cheap, but now the phone face is one of my favourite jumpscares of all time. The amount of time and atmosphere to get to them helps them feel justified. ALSO i realized that after each jumpscare there was no relief, like in a lesser horror movie you know there wont be another one for a good 10 minutes, but in Skinamarink the jumpscares actually make everything much more scary, the tension does not go away. I can still hear that fucking blisteringly loud telephone ring in my head, it's brilliant imo, really stuck with me.
This movie actually really hit home for me. My brother and I went through similar experiences as in Skinamarink. Dad was gone, Mom passed away, abducted to a different country. It was just us two and the confusing world, trying to cope with our unfathomable situations. Needless to say, we were both emotionally struck by the film and couldn't sleep for a few days after T_T
for me, the movie is like a drawn out recurring nightmare i had as a kid. it viscerally taps into the anxiety of being in my home knowing something is wrong and knowing something somewhere is trying to hurt me, but not knowing what or why. the stillness lends to the kind of frozen-panic that i always got when the lights all went out but i couldn't quite fall asleep. one of my friends wasn't phased by the movie much at all, they just made jokes the whole time, but I'm definitely the kind to get really lost in movies and i fucking love the movie. For me the scariest part, or at least the most upsetting, was the 9-1-1 call. idk why.
Saw this in theaters at 10pm on a Sunday. I hadn't heard much of anything besides a friend saying it scared them and hearing some people before the movie say something along the lines of it being based off a child's nightmare. I don't know if that's true but that's how I ended up approaching it. By the final half hour, I was begging the film to stop showing me images and was watching from between my fingers. Once the house lights came up, I could swear the whole theater breathed a sigh of relief. This was definitely the first movie in a while to have me actually scared for this long. Nope, scared me too but it was going for more of a "in awe" fear than the almost primal "it's dark and i'm completely alone" fear of skinamarink. I actually welcomed the jumpscares because they actually broke the tension for a minute and let me catch my breath. Also just the complete lack of anyone's faces in the film added to the dreamy/nightmarish and alien feeling of it all. It felt its length but also felt like it was holding me hostage, in a good way.
I like to think to me the monster represents one of the parents, and when it attacks Kaylee, but then goes down to play in the living room, is exactly what some parents do when they hurt a child violently, but then try to "play nice" and pretend nothing happened. Stuff like "I got you ice cream!" after yelling violently and harming their child. I didn't necesarily read this as the monster being child-like, but rather, takin on the attitude of an abussive parent failing to apologize and make amends to their kid. I specially think the monster is meant to represent one of the parents because it harms Kaylee when she disobeys, and then harms Kevin when he obeys, same way that narcissist parents will harm you regardless of your behaviour and whether or not you do as you are told.
My Thoughts: - it's always nice to see something original, someone's singular vision executed in an uncompromising way. Personally I thought it needed there to be a little bit more too it to justify it being a feature rather than a short, it overstayed its welcome by at least 20 minutes. Might have been better if I'd caught it in a cinema as well tbf. At the same time, its very hard to dislike. "If your sleep paralysis demon wanted to make a relatable drama about it's life" is a cool pitch for a film. ASMR-ish sound, degraded media, House Of Leaves vibes, liminal spaces - that's all stuff I'm into! Looking forwards to seeing what this team does next.
Funny that you had a very different experience, I liked the start and found it quite unsellting from the jump, thought it peaked around the middle sequence in the parents bedroom *look under the bed* then it just kept going and I was like, yeah I have seen you do this, now what? and it kind of lost me by the end. I was still happy to have subbed to Shudder to the month to get seeing it, I'm making sure to get full use out of it now.
"Isn't that nice? Don't you feel great about that?" You bet your ass it is and I do! No joke, definitely the Skinamarink take I've been most wanting to see.
ngl, I'm a little too freaked out to watch it. I still remember my first ever nightmare from age like 4 or 5: I was alone in our white-trash single wide trailer, all the lights off and power out, and standing at the end of our narrow hallway. At the other end of our hallway was my tricycle sitting on cracked linoleum, illuminated by the sparse light from outside. The tricycle starting rolling towards me on it's own. That's all I remember, but it was TERRIFYING and it still sticks to me to this day. btw, I watched that World's Fair movie and turned into the Leo diCaprio meme of him pointing at the tv when you popped up, LOL
I'm so so so upset that skinamarink didn't scare me, beyond jealous of everyone that shit their pants, I wanted that so bad!! I was gobbling up every frame of the trailer, and I really loved it, stylistically (cheap ass jump scares aside). If it had been like, 45 minutes long with no lame audio stings, then it would have been delicious. Still definitely wouldn't have scared me, but would have been that much better.
All this said, I will sing the merits of two things: the cartoons, and the visual static. Every single cartoon they used was one that me and my siblings would hunker in the basement watching endlessly on repeat (typically while parental horrors were unfolding) until the gut wrenching moment we had to troop upstairs and I'd always try to be first, or in the middle, because there was this huge, hulking black furnace against the wall facing the landing, and I was terrified of that thing coming to life and attacking me. I was also extremely fond of the particular cartoon where that little boy with the pop gun shoots a baby bird. My shitheel little kid mind was *enthralled* by that. So, 10/10 points for dredging up those memories! In terms of the static overlay, it reminded me of when I'd be laying awake staring in the darkness and I'd start seeing these colorful little dots, black in the center with a corona of pink or orange or yellow around them, and I'd watch them swirl around in waves. I can still see them, actually, and I have no idea what this phenomenon is (child me thought I was seeing air molecules lol), so the whole while I'm watching this, objectively quite upsetting story unfold, I'm also viewing it through the almost literal lens of a very comforting pastime from my childhood, which is thematically very tasty. Also the scene with the blue hallway imo should have been the ending shot, god that was sexy. It was like something from Bacon's man in blue paintings. Yum.
I really wanted to like this movie, I admire the atmosphere it was generating and I definitely got what it was trying to do; but I was just bored for long stretches. I had to fight the urge to doze off almost constantly. It definitely overstayed its welcome. I’m not sure what could be done for the pacing without undercutting the whole concept, but as it is it just didn’t work for me. I know there’s a short film that the director did that was kind of a proof of concept for this movie, and I’d really like to see it. I think this sort of thing would work much better in a short format.
For me, this movie did tap into some fears/anxieties. The feeling of claustrophobia scared me the most, I’d say. Of course, those moments of fear, being a child and feeling alone in the dark scared me, but the claustrophobia got me. Feeling trapped in a home that was already filled with abuse and negativity creates a darkness that almost makes you seem trapped within it. Then to have the very escape methods disappearing around you makes it that much worse. For your only escape to be those Legos, those dolls, the repetitive cartoons, what have you seems so minimal in comparison with the monster or darkness that has already been evolving in that home. I don’t know… for me? That movie scared the shit out of me for different reasons.
I was absolutely ready for this movie to scare the shit out of me and it just...didn't. I usually love movies where nothing fucking happens for an hour. And I was scared of the dark well into adulthood. I was a child in the 80s and 90s. It should have worked for me! The scene with the mom had me super tense. The 911 call scene was upsetting. The ending shots kinda spooked me. But by the time the credits rolled I was only irritated and that feeling didn't go away until the following day. I do like that something so weird got a wide(ish?) release! That's my favorite part about it hahah
I feel the exact same. I was so disappointed and I don’t get why people were so scared. There were def things I liked and I liked the attempt but I did not like the movie
This comment is not about the movie, I just really like seeing May smiling in her videos (I rewatched her old videos recently you know what I mean). Man, do I love May....
Thank you for these morsels, Miss May. It's always such a pleasure to hear you talk about stuff and things, and also, it is just pretty nice to discover somebody else who liked this movie. A buddy of mine watched it on my recommendation and oh my goodness, the RAGE she felt over how much she hated it.
I finally got around to it, and first I just want to say I feel called out because as I was getting ready for bed, I loaded up UA-cam to watch videos on it. But also, just want to say you're spot on with accepting it as time goes on. The taste comparison really fits. It was weird and a turn off at first, but after awhile I just felt natural, and not can't really see it being done any other way. It both added to the atmosphere, and became less of something that I really focused on after awhile. I just sort of accepted it and enjoyed it. Either way, probably my favorite horror movie of the year so far. I know it's early, but even though it probably could have been a bit shorter, I still loved it.
There was something about this movie that got me; I think it was about parental abuse but I can't quite articulate why but irregardless it scared me on a visceral level. No other movie has done that for me yet somehow this did. I hope another movie can confront me on this level.
Skinamarink absolutely did not work for me on basically any level, and it's been interesting talking to people in real life and online and seeing who it did and didn't work for and why. The closest I've come to some kind of meaningful answer is that you're either going to find the film's refusal to resolve tension or show anything anxiety-inducing and spooky, or annoying and boring, and there isn't really going to be an in between reaction (as is often the case with these kinds of experimental, tone-poem-esque movies). And because there's nothing else in the movie *but* that tension, no narrative or character beats to find interesting, if you aren't scared then the whole thing just doesn't land at all. That all said, the last shot of the film is absolutely masterful and even though I didn't vibe with the film, I do still think about that last shot a lot. It's a cool film to exist, regardless of my opinion on it. The world needs more weird experimental shit becoming a phenom in this way. More weird polarizing art! Yes!
watched this movie with my roommates and despite my roommate being bored as hell and not shutting the fuck up, i was absolutely terrified and adored it. it reminded me of the type of paranoia i had before getting properly medicated, always sleeping with the lights on because the lights being off sent my brain spinning
I'm still conflicted about it but it had an effect on me. Very hard to explain or describe but very familiar. I was very involved the whole runtime. I do really appreciate that the director made exactly what he wanted to.
I'd not been enthralled and scared during a movie like this since watching the Blair Witch Project with my friend when we were both 13 and thought it was all real. It perpetually felt like when you see a shadow in the darkness in your bedroom that could be your pile of clothes on a chair or it could be the Hat Man and you're too scared to turn on the light to check because, even though it's likely clothes, what if it is the Hat Man and now you can no longer pretend it's not?
So I saw this movie in theaters, and I'm so fucking glad I did. I knew what I was getting into, but also had no clue; this movie is so impossible to explain, and I feel you did a really good job. I don't really get scared by horror movies, sometimes they get to me but not really. I also haven't been genuinely afraid of the dark since I was a teenager. This movie *fucking got to me*. I couldn't sleep for 2 days after because it took me hours to feel safe enough to turn off the lights. I have never had a movie fuck with me like this. 20/10 I love it so much
I’m happy to hear another film-school survivor say that they just want to be entertained. I’d love for you to do reviews forever to delight shut-ins such as myself, but I get that you have other plans. I found Fluids to be way too reminiscent of a few of my relationships from back in the day, & I have your upcoming book on pre-order. Keep it up, you’re doing great 💖
Saw it in a packed theater and I’ve never been that scared since I was a kid. Everyone squirming in their seats from the tension, I remember thinking to myself at one point “if something doesn’t happen right now I’m gonna scream” 😂 I had lost the sense of things being real, and yet like you I was completely bored and annoyed in the beginning. Truly haven’t been that engaged in a film maybe never
yeah, i saw this movie in a theater and it really wasn’t for me. regardless of how i feel about it, still super cool that an independent artist with such a low budget made such a big thing. i’ll definitely watch it again in a different setting. maybe i just wasn’t in the right space to appreciate it at the time.
I vibed hard with this movie. The title is a reference to the ending theme song for The Elephant Show, which was targeted at young kids kinda like Fred Penner or Lamb Chops. I'm a Canadian 90s kid and I had insomnia and a vhs tape of early looney toons/max fleischer that I wore out so the clips picked and the way light sources were used is so so familiar. My absolute favourite scene is looking under the bed, which I think is from the sister's perspective, so I believe both kids exist in the context of the movie and it's more the home at night that is the source of fear.
Man I love your videos on horror media, you're just quick and witty and funny despite describing what I'd probably call mentally intense art, especially for people like me who don't have a real education on the language of film. I hope some more good horror movies come out soon!
I LOVED it. I thought they could have cut about 20 minutes out of it and lost nothing, but that didnt ruin it for me. It perfectly captures the way i felt as a scared kid. Its like the first time you become conscious of the idea that your parents might hurt you either actively or circumstantially, that there is danger in the world that you are not safe from, powerlessness, darkness, etc. It's the feeling that i think my love of horror comes from ultimately.
I was going to wait and watch this for myself before any of these videos but I've miss May #,# so auto watching. you are one of the few youtubers who I regularly rewatch content of.
Really made me feel like I was experiencing one of my childhood night terrors. Specifically when I would wake up and hallucinate things in my house changing, along with the monster from my dream stalking me.
That phone, that damn phone is the reason I felt afraid when I got home from the movies at 1:00am. I laughed out loud when it revealed only to squeal at it a few moments later.
the movie is set in the 90s iirc there’s a little card at the very beginning. the director also has a youtube where he’s done other short films including what is basically a proto skinamarink which i was reminded of when you mentioned wishing you found it on 4chan lol hope you’re taking it easy and wishing you well :)!
Ilu May! This movies premise scared me so much I couldn't make it through the opening credits because I knew what was going to happen with the windows and doors disappearing and the phone (FUCK that phone I saw it in some short films and I will never like that phones creepy eyes) and it scared me so much. So I couldn't finish it. Watching you explain it makes me want to see it but at the same time is so satisfying because I'm always happy to see your content cover what I'm too scared to see and explain the deeper meaning behind it. Not to say that you need to be scared and shit your pants so I don't have to but I am really appreciate it because now I can get the deeper meaning behind the movie. Thanks for this!!
That part where the phone Did a scary got to me so bad. It was so unnervingly close to this one specific nightmare I used to have as a kid. It was surreal seeing it on screen like that, and I was not ready.
I don’t know why but this movie gave me the feeling of having those dreams (nightmares tbh) I’d have as a kid. Screaming but no sound is coming out and you’re crying but everyone else around you doesn’t notice because they can’t hear you, or they just don’t care. Like an adult you trust doing things to upset or hurt you but nobody cares or notices, overall stressful and very upsetting.
the telephone face is such a great example of a childhood fear. like oh haha what if the telephone made a face at me what an unsophisticated childs fear. but like, what if it did? THAT WOULD BE SCARY
My dad likes this movie which honestly surprised me since his taste in horror tends to lean a lot more towards Resident Evil Live Action Movies type stuff
I think Skinamarink can be best described as "If your worst childhood nightmare was given a film adaptation." I still vaguely remember a nightmare I had as a child that scared the living crap out of me back then. I was in a dark place, likely a house, being chased by a man/creature whose face I can't even see or remember seeing. Very eerily similar to the Skinamarink monster we see at the end of the movie.
Jesus H. Christmas May...this movie confused me, and creeped the absolute hell out of me. That doesn't happen too much anymore. So yeah, like 10/10 ffrom me.
I was constantly afraid as a kid, and as a life long insomniac with a far too big imagination this movie looks and sounds like my entire childhood. 😬😬😬
I definitely wasn't going to see this movie before and now I might! If I do, it'll be if I get a shudder subscription, so imo they should definitely sponsor you, you make us want to watch horror and they host horror, it's a match made in the deepest circles of hell. Cmon shudder, sponsor may and I'll buy your product! Don't be cowards!
tbh you really do have to have a personal experience with childhood neglect/trauma to find the movie scary. i watched it with high hopes and for the most part logically understood the themes and why it would be scary, but it didn’t scare me at all. the pacing and the way the film is made relies on context that you can only get from recognizing/remembering specific feelings and situations. if you haven’t experienced that theres simply no way for you to understand the horror of the film in any meaningful way. i wasnt able to pick up on emotionally significant moments and ended up so detached from the characters and setting that i just couldn’t feel the horror in it? even during the overtly scary parts like the kid getting hurt… i was getting so little out of the movie i wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief and care about it in a deeper sense than “man, i really dont like hearing children suffering”. that was my experience, but my cousin cried and had to take a break in the middle of it the first time she watched it because it scared/triggered them so badly. if i hadn’t talked to them about the movie and its themes i would never have really understood what makes it scary to some people. tldr; this movie made me feel next to nothing, but im not the target audience. its a good movie. milage may vary haha
Worth mentioning. The movie was shot inside Kyle Edward ball's actual childhood home. So all the scary ceiling corners and long shots of a dim tv... may all be what he was afraid of as a child
Hey I used to have that same Cattle Decap shirt but then I hit 30 and I didn't fit into any of my small shirts anymore :( Great take on the very scary movie where nothing happens tho :)
Skinamarink was the first horror movie I ever sat down and watched (my family was never big on horror so I never got the chance to watch them growing up) and I did so with a friend of mine who is very big on horror. That fucking phone jumpscare scared the shit out of us because if you've seen the movie you know its very quiet (other than when the kids get hurt, which we couldnt listen to because it made us uncomfortable) so for the phone to suddenly ring at full volume. We needed to take a ten minute break
watched it last night -- I think once the thing with the girl happens, there needed to be very few lingering shots. I think the editing of the movie needed to be tighter. Because before that the movie was kind of creeping me out.
I really didn't like it but I'm glad you did! I can't handle the really disturbing content (even the fiction stuff, ESPECIALLY not the NSFL stuff) so I'm happy to see you discussing a normal-ish movie, even if it's a brief detour.
Hey May, I think I saw you at a Starbucks but I couldn't be sure. I wanted to say hi, but I got too nervous. If it wasn't I'm so sorry and this probably sounds insane.
the only movies ive seen this year are skinamarink and infinity pool and im kind of shocked at the fact that i really liked skinamarink but didnt like infinity pool
This movie felt like when it’s so goddamn hot for two straight days your skin is melting off and then it rains and you’re like oh thank god but the rain doesn’t actually cool it down it just stays in the air like a blanket of ick and you’re just constantly sweating and dehydrated and then someone suddenly touches you and you scream for eight years. Great film 10/10
Skinamarink is the movie version of when you're laying in bed for hours trying to fall asleep and your brain decides to jumpscare you with the scariest mental image you've ever had and your bathroom sink has a leaky faucet that sounds way too similar to someone whispering from outside your bedroom door
I always equated it to being scared as a child but your mom had enough of you being scared and wants to sleep so you just stay awake, staring t nothing being scared of everything you don't see.
I love hearing other people try to articulate why this movie scared them, as I also tried to explain it to people and was left being like 'there was like. things moved? a doll was on the ceiling and i hated it. people were whispering.' and you can hear yourself losing braincells as each word leaves your mouth
Me watching Skinamarink: This is the scariest movie I've ever seen
Skinamarink: Out-of-focus shot of the back of a chair
"there were some eyes and it turned out they were the eyes on one of those toddler telephones, and the toddler telephone made a spooky face at me. I couldn't sleep for a week"
The thing with this is that it isn't a 'you just don't get it' movie, it either causes you to react viscerally to it due to whatever nonsense is going on in our brains or it does absolutely nothing except cause stultifying boredom. Both reactions are entirely valid.
I think this movie reflects back your own childhood trauma. Reasonable, happy upbringing? Boring as shit. Trauma that haunts you to this very day and colors your every moment, invades your dreams, and leads to difficulty forming healthy relationships? This movie gunna fuck you up
I watched this movie the last day it was playing in theaters and I had such an awful time during it I had to keep thinking about McDonalds the whole time to keep me sane. Best movie experience I’ve had in years
This shouldn’t make sense to me. But it does. It makes complete sense
Literally I felt like my friend and I were begging for the movie to finish. Then when it ended we couldn’t stop talking about how great it was
This is the most accurate depiction of childhood fear I have ever seen. Nothings happening but you’re still terrified of everything around you.
personally my favourite part of the movie is when the skinamarink jumps out and says "AY im the fuckin' skinamarink" and rinks all over them
This gave me a chuckle that I desperately needed
I feel the same about the jumpscares, at first i thought they were cheap, but now the phone face is one of my favourite jumpscares of all time. The amount of time and atmosphere to get to them helps them feel justified. ALSO i realized that after each jumpscare there was no relief, like in a lesser horror movie you know there wont be another one for a good 10 minutes, but in Skinamarink the jumpscares actually make everything much more scary, the tension does not go away. I can still hear that fucking blisteringly loud telephone ring in my head, it's brilliant imo, really stuck with me.
This movie actually really hit home for me. My brother and I went through similar experiences as in Skinamarink. Dad was gone, Mom passed away, abducted to a different country. It was just us two and the confusing world, trying to cope with our unfathomable situations. Needless to say, we were both emotionally struck by the film and couldn't sleep for a few days after T_T
Thank the fucking gods. You know, you are one of only three people on this cursed platform that have anything decent to say about films.
for me, the movie is like a drawn out recurring nightmare i had as a kid. it viscerally taps into the anxiety of being in my home knowing something is wrong and knowing something somewhere is trying to hurt me, but not knowing what or why. the stillness lends to the kind of frozen-panic that i always got when the lights all went out but i couldn't quite fall asleep. one of my friends wasn't phased by the movie much at all, they just made jokes the whole time, but I'm definitely the kind to get really lost in movies and i fucking love the movie.
For me the scariest part, or at least the most upsetting, was the 9-1-1 call. idk why.
Saw this in theaters at 10pm on a Sunday. I hadn't heard much of anything besides a friend saying it scared them and hearing some people before the movie say something along the lines of it being based off a child's nightmare. I don't know if that's true but that's how I ended up approaching it.
By the final half hour, I was begging the film to stop showing me images and was watching from between my fingers. Once the house lights came up, I could swear the whole theater breathed a sigh of relief.
This was definitely the first movie in a while to have me actually scared for this long. Nope, scared me too but it was going for more of a "in awe" fear than the almost primal "it's dark and i'm completely alone" fear of skinamarink. I actually welcomed the jumpscares because they actually broke the tension for a minute and let me catch my breath. Also just the complete lack of anyone's faces in the film added to the dreamy/nightmarish and alien feeling of it all. It felt its length but also felt like it was holding me hostage, in a good way.
Oh heeeelllllll no! I don't like that they don't show faces because in my dreams and nightmares I never see faces. Definitely have to watch this one.
Oh heck yeah, if someone needs to talk about this movie, it’s May
I like to think to me the monster represents one of the parents, and when it attacks Kaylee, but then goes down to play in the living room, is exactly what some parents do when they hurt a child violently, but then try to "play nice" and pretend nothing happened. Stuff like "I got you ice cream!" after yelling violently and harming their child. I didn't necesarily read this as the monster being child-like, but rather, takin on the attitude of an abussive parent failing to apologize and make amends to their kid.
I specially think the monster is meant to represent one of the parents because it harms Kaylee when she disobeys, and then harms Kevin when he obeys, same way that narcissist parents will harm you regardless of your behaviour and whether or not you do as you are told.
My Thoughts: - it's always nice to see something original, someone's singular vision executed in an uncompromising way. Personally I thought it needed there to be a little bit more too it to justify it being a feature rather than a short, it overstayed its welcome by at least 20 minutes. Might have been better if I'd caught it in a cinema as well tbf. At the same time, its very hard to dislike. "If your sleep paralysis demon wanted to make a relatable drama about it's life" is a cool pitch for a film. ASMR-ish sound, degraded media, House Of Leaves vibes, liminal spaces - that's all stuff I'm into! Looking forwards to seeing what this team does next.
Funny that you had a very different experience, I liked the start and found it quite unsellting from the jump, thought it peaked around the middle sequence in the parents bedroom *look under the bed* then it just kept going and I was like, yeah I have seen you do this, now what? and it kind of lost me by the end. I was still happy to have subbed to Shudder to the month to get seeing it, I'm making sure to get full use out of it now.
I was watching Heck by the same creator, and I felt like a kid really close to crying. The cartoons are very comforting, but you rely on them more
"Isn't that nice? Don't you feel great about that?" You bet your ass it is and I do!
No joke, definitely the Skinamarink take I've been most wanting to see.
ngl, I'm a little too freaked out to watch it. I still remember my first ever nightmare from age like 4 or 5: I was alone in our white-trash single wide trailer, all the lights off and power out, and standing at the end of our narrow hallway. At the other end of our hallway was my tricycle sitting on cracked linoleum, illuminated by the sparse light from outside. The tricycle starting rolling towards me on it's own. That's all I remember, but it was TERRIFYING and it still sticks to me to this day.
btw, I watched that World's Fair movie and turned into the Leo diCaprio meme of him pointing at the tv when you popped up, LOL
I'm so so so upset that skinamarink didn't scare me, beyond jealous of everyone that shit their pants, I wanted that so bad!! I was gobbling up every frame of the trailer, and I really loved it, stylistically (cheap ass jump scares aside). If it had been like, 45 minutes long with no lame audio stings, then it would have been delicious. Still definitely wouldn't have scared me, but would have been that much better.
All this said, I will sing the merits of two things: the cartoons, and the visual static. Every single cartoon they used was one that me and my siblings would hunker in the basement watching endlessly on repeat (typically while parental horrors were unfolding) until the gut wrenching moment we had to troop upstairs and I'd always try to be first, or in the middle, because there was this huge, hulking black furnace against the wall facing the landing, and I was terrified of that thing coming to life and attacking me. I was also extremely fond of the particular cartoon where that little boy with the pop gun shoots a baby bird. My shitheel little kid mind was *enthralled* by that. So, 10/10 points for dredging up those memories!
In terms of the static overlay, it reminded me of when I'd be laying awake staring in the darkness and I'd start seeing these colorful little dots, black in the center with a corona of pink or orange or yellow around them, and I'd watch them swirl around in waves. I can still see them, actually, and I have no idea what this phenomenon is (child me thought I was seeing air molecules lol), so the whole while I'm watching this, objectively quite upsetting story unfold, I'm also viewing it through the almost literal lens of a very comforting pastime from my childhood, which is thematically very tasty.
Also the scene with the blue hallway imo should have been the ending shot, god that was sexy. It was like something from Bacon's man in blue paintings. Yum.
I really wanted to like this movie, I admire the atmosphere it was generating and I definitely got what it was trying to do; but I was just bored for long stretches. I had to fight the urge to doze off almost constantly. It definitely overstayed its welcome. I’m not sure what could be done for the pacing without undercutting the whole concept, but as it is it just didn’t work for me. I know there’s a short film that the director did that was kind of a proof of concept for this movie, and I’d really like to see it. I think this sort of thing would work much better in a short format.
For me, this movie did tap into some fears/anxieties. The feeling of claustrophobia scared me the most, I’d say. Of course, those moments of fear, being a child and feeling alone in the dark scared me, but the claustrophobia got me. Feeling trapped in a home that was already filled with abuse and negativity creates a darkness that almost makes you seem trapped within it. Then to have the very escape methods disappearing around you makes it that much worse. For your only escape to be those Legos, those dolls, the repetitive cartoons, what have you seems so minimal in comparison with the monster or darkness that has already been evolving in that home. I don’t know… for me? That movie scared the shit out of me for different reasons.
I was absolutely ready for this movie to scare the shit out of me and it just...didn't. I usually love movies where nothing fucking happens for an hour. And I was scared of the dark well into adulthood. I was a child in the 80s and 90s. It should have worked for me! The scene with the mom had me super tense. The 911 call scene was upsetting. The ending shots kinda spooked me. But by the time the credits rolled I was only irritated and that feeling didn't go away until the following day. I do like that something so weird got a wide(ish?) release! That's my favorite part about it hahah
I feel the exact same. I was so disappointed and I don’t get why people were so scared. There were def things I liked and I liked the attempt but I did not like the movie
Did you watch it at home alone in the dark? or in a cinema with other people?
you got edged by a movie
This comment is not about the movie, I just really like seeing May smiling in her videos (I rewatched her old videos recently you know what I mean). Man, do I love May....
SKINAMARINK is the last horror movie that I had to cover my eyes for like 3/4 of it.
Thank you for these morsels, Miss May. It's always such a pleasure to hear you talk about stuff and things, and also, it is just pretty nice to discover somebody else who liked this movie. A buddy of mine watched it on my recommendation and oh my goodness, the RAGE she felt over how much she hated it.
I like that everyones talking about such a small project that started in Canada >:) and us fans of analog horror are here for it.
Us Canadians know it was written by Sharon, Lois, & Bram Stoker.
I get what it was trying to do. But lord it’s basically “childhood fear vibes” the movie
This movie brought up so much childhood trauma and awfulness, but I still loved it.
I finally got around to it, and first I just want to say I feel called out because as I was getting ready for bed, I loaded up UA-cam to watch videos on it.
But also, just want to say you're spot on with accepting it as time goes on. The taste comparison really fits. It was weird and a turn off at first, but after awhile I just felt natural, and not can't really see it being done any other way. It both added to the atmosphere, and became less of something that I really focused on after awhile. I just sort of accepted it and enjoyed it.
Either way, probably my favorite horror movie of the year so far. I know it's early, but even though it probably could have been a bit shorter, I still loved it.
Thanks for covering this- I couldn't watch it because the background noises were upsetting my dog and what she says goes lmao
There was something about this movie that got me; I think it was about parental abuse but I can't quite articulate why but irregardless it scared me on a visceral level. No other movie has done that for me yet somehow this did. I hope another movie can confront me on this level.
This guy gets it!
Skinamarink absolutely did not work for me on basically any level, and it's been interesting talking to people in real life and online and seeing who it did and didn't work for and why. The closest I've come to some kind of meaningful answer is that you're either going to find the film's refusal to resolve tension or show anything anxiety-inducing and spooky, or annoying and boring, and there isn't really going to be an in between reaction (as is often the case with these kinds of experimental, tone-poem-esque movies). And because there's nothing else in the movie *but* that tension, no narrative or character beats to find interesting, if you aren't scared then the whole thing just doesn't land at all.
That all said, the last shot of the film is absolutely masterful and even though I didn't vibe with the film, I do still think about that last shot a lot.
It's a cool film to exist, regardless of my opinion on it. The world needs more weird experimental shit becoming a phenom in this way. More weird polarizing art! Yes!
watched this movie with my roommates and despite my roommate being bored as hell and not shutting the fuck up, i was absolutely terrified and adored it. it reminded me of the type of paranoia i had before getting properly medicated, always sleeping with the lights on because the lights being off sent my brain spinning
I'm still conflicted about it but it had an effect on me. Very hard to explain or describe but very familiar. I was very involved the whole runtime. I do really appreciate that the director made exactly what he wanted to.
I'd not been enthralled and scared during a movie like this since watching the Blair Witch Project with my friend when we were both 13 and thought it was all real. It perpetually felt like when you see a shadow in the darkness in your bedroom that could be your pile of clothes on a chair or it could be the Hat Man and you're too scared to turn on the light to check because, even though it's likely clothes, what if it is the Hat Man and now you can no longer pretend it's not?
I thought almost the entire movie was boring, but that last shot of the face slowly emerging from the darkness scared the absolute shit out of me.
So I saw this movie in theaters, and I'm so fucking glad I did. I knew what I was getting into, but also had no clue; this movie is so impossible to explain, and I feel you did a really good job.
I don't really get scared by horror movies, sometimes they get to me but not really. I also haven't been genuinely afraid of the dark since I was a teenager. This movie *fucking got to me*. I couldn't sleep for 2 days after because it took me hours to feel safe enough to turn off the lights. I have never had a movie fuck with me like this. 20/10 I love it so much
I’m happy to hear another film-school survivor say that they just want to be entertained. I’d love for you to do reviews forever to delight shut-ins such as myself, but I get that you have other plans. I found Fluids to be way too reminiscent of a few of my relationships from back in the day, & I have your upcoming book on pre-order. Keep it up, you’re doing great 💖
Saw it in a packed theater and I’ve never been that scared since I was a kid. Everyone squirming in their seats from the tension, I remember thinking to myself at one point “if something doesn’t happen right now I’m gonna scream” 😂 I had lost the sense of things being real, and yet like you I was completely bored and annoyed in the beginning. Truly haven’t been that engaged in a film maybe never
yeah, i saw this movie in a theater and it really wasn’t for me. regardless of how i feel about it, still super cool that an independent artist with such a low budget made such a big thing. i’ll definitely watch it again in a different setting. maybe i just wasn’t in the right space to appreciate it at the time.
Hearing you talk/rant about a movie filled me with a nice bit of nostalgia. I hope Remington is doing okay
I vibed hard with this movie. The title is a reference to the ending theme song for The Elephant Show, which was targeted at young kids kinda like Fred Penner or Lamb Chops. I'm a Canadian 90s kid and I had insomnia and a vhs tape of early looney toons/max fleischer that I wore out so the clips picked and the way light sources were used is so so familiar. My absolute favourite scene is looking under the bed, which I think is from the sister's perspective, so I believe both kids exist in the context of the movie and it's more the home at night that is the source of fear.
Man I love your videos on horror media, you're just quick and witty and funny despite describing what I'd probably call mentally intense art, especially for people like me who don't have a real education on the language of film. I hope some more good horror movies come out soon!
I LOVED it. I thought they could have cut about 20 minutes out of it and lost nothing, but that didnt ruin it for me. It perfectly captures the way i felt as a scared kid. Its like the first time you become conscious of the idea that your parents might hurt you either actively or circumstantially, that there is danger in the world that you are not safe from, powerlessness, darkness, etc. It's the feeling that i think my love of horror comes from ultimately.
You're at your absolute best when you talk about movies and it's the kind of video I discovered you from. Keep truckin May ✨
Hi May ❤I'm happy you're having a good day!!!
I was going to wait and watch this for myself before any of these videos but I've miss May #,# so auto watching. you are one of the few youtubers who I regularly rewatch content of.
I have never clicked on a video so fast. I love your work!
i guess i'm trauma child cus i can only think it was about me lmao
Really made me feel like I was experiencing one of my childhood night terrors. Specifically when I would wake up and hallucinate things in my house changing, along with the monster from my dream stalking me.
DO you even sleep these days? SO much good content, a new book, new music and all I've seen so far is really good.
That phone, that damn phone is the reason I felt afraid when I got home from the movies at 1:00am. I laughed out loud when it revealed only to squeal at it a few moments later.
the movie is set in the 90s iirc there’s a little card at the very beginning. the director also has a youtube where he’s done other short films including what is basically a proto skinamarink which i was reminded of when you mentioned wishing you found it on 4chan lol hope you’re taking it easy and wishing you well :)!
Ilu May! This movies premise scared me so much I couldn't make it through the opening credits because I knew what was going to happen with the windows and doors disappearing and the phone (FUCK that phone I saw it in some short films and I will never like that phones creepy eyes) and it scared me so much. So I couldn't finish it. Watching you explain it makes me want to see it but at the same time is so satisfying because I'm always happy to see your content cover what I'm too scared to see and explain the deeper meaning behind it. Not to say that you need to be scared and shit your pants so I don't have to but I am really appreciate it because now I can get the deeper meaning behind the movie. Thanks for this!!
So glad to see you talk about this! Honestly I'd listen to you talk about any kind of movie, not just horror.
That part where the phone Did a scary got to me so bad. It was so unnervingly close to this one specific nightmare I used to have as a kid.
It was surreal seeing it on screen like that, and I was not ready.
I don’t know why but this movie gave me the feeling of having those dreams (nightmares tbh) I’d have as a kid. Screaming but no sound is coming out and you’re crying but everyone else around you doesn’t notice because they can’t hear you, or they just don’t care. Like an adult you trust doing things to upset or hurt you but nobody cares or notices, overall stressful and very upsetting.
So glad to see you talking about this. I loved this movie so much and I'm so excited to see what you thought
the telephone face is such a great example of a childhood fear. like oh haha what if the telephone made a face at me what an unsophisticated childs fear. but like, what if it did? THAT WOULD BE SCARY
was so hoping you would talk about this movie
My dad likes this movie which honestly surprised me since his taste in horror tends to lean a lot more towards Resident Evil Live Action Movies type stuff
Also I can tell your so much genuienly happier not being pressured to upload youtube eassays, good for you!@
this is my fave skinamarink video now :D
Eyyy!! Glad to see you again!
always love seeing you upload!!
Unlocked my blockbuster walk memories.
i was waiting for this one! thanks may
May, I love you! Perfect take! Flawless take! You are the only one who got it!
This one was super hard to watch..can’t wait to see what you think about it. I liked Tideland more than you did lol
Re visiting this video almost a year later after appearing in my dream last night
I think Skinamarink can be best described as "If your worst childhood nightmare was given a film adaptation." I still vaguely remember a nightmare I had as a child that scared the living crap out of me back then. I was in a dark place, likely a house, being chased by a man/creature whose face I can't even see or remember seeing. Very eerily similar to the Skinamarink monster we see at the end of the movie.
Jesus H. Christmas May...this movie confused me, and creeped the absolute hell out of me. That doesn't happen too much anymore. So yeah, like 10/10 ffrom me.
I was constantly afraid as a kid, and as a life long insomniac with a far too big imagination this movie looks and sounds like my entire childhood. 😬😬😬
I'm glad you talked about this, but I want you to talk about Infinity Pooooooooooooooool *whines*
Bought your book bundle, really excited. Also, I wonder if Signalis would interest you, it has space lesbians~ uAu but also pain
I definitely wasn't going to see this movie before and now I might!
If I do, it'll be if I get a shudder subscription, so imo they should definitely sponsor you, you make us want to watch horror and they host horror, it's a match made in the deepest circles of hell. Cmon shudder, sponsor may and I'll buy your product! Don't be cowards!
tbh you really do have to have a personal experience with childhood neglect/trauma to find the movie scary.
i watched it with high hopes and for the most part logically understood the themes and why it would be scary, but it didn’t scare me at all. the pacing and the way the film is made relies on context that you can only get from recognizing/remembering specific feelings and situations. if you haven’t experienced that theres simply no way for you to understand the horror of the film in any meaningful way.
i wasnt able to pick up on emotionally significant moments and ended up so detached from the characters and setting that i just couldn’t feel the horror in it? even during the overtly scary parts like the kid getting hurt… i was getting so little out of the movie i wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief and care about it in a deeper sense than “man, i really dont like hearing children suffering”.
that was my experience, but my cousin cried and had to take a break in the middle of it the first time she watched it because it scared/triggered them so badly. if i hadn’t talked to them about the movie and its themes i would never have really understood what makes it scary to some people.
tldr; this movie made me feel next to nothing, but im not the target audience. its a good movie. milage may vary haha
Worth mentioning. The movie was shot inside Kyle Edward ball's actual childhood home. So all the scary ceiling corners and long shots of a dim tv... may all be what he was afraid of as a child
HOLY SHIT YOU WERE IN WE'RE ALL GOING TO THE WORLD'S FAIR!!! THAT'S AWESOME! CONGRATS!!
Hey I used to have that same Cattle Decap shirt but then I hit 30 and I didn't fit into any of my small shirts anymore :(
Great take on the very scary movie where nothing happens tho :)
The ending was so fucking chilling. Perfect way to end the movie
HELL YEA SKINA-MAY-RINK
i love ur videos!!
Skinamarink was the first horror movie I ever sat down and watched (my family was never big on horror so I never got the chance to watch them growing up) and I did so with a friend of mine who is very big on horror. That fucking phone jumpscare scared the shit out of us because if you've seen the movie you know its very quiet (other than when the kids get hurt, which we couldnt listen to because it made us uncomfortable) so for the phone to suddenly ring at full volume. We needed to take a ten minute break
watched it last night -- I think once the thing with the girl happens, there needed to be very few lingering shots. I think the editing of the movie needed to be tighter.
Because before that the movie was kind of creeping me out.
That stupid jerkass phone made the hair on my neck and arms stand up
Oooo do The Outwaters next
Hey May, have you seen the Outwaters? I saw that the other day and it was a lot more fucked up than I expected. I am curious what you think of it.
YEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS SKINAMARINK ME
I really didn't like it but I'm glad you did!
I can't handle the really disturbing content (even the fiction stuff, ESPECIALLY not the NSFL stuff) so I'm happy to see you discussing a normal-ish movie, even if it's a brief detour.
Hey May, I think I saw you at a Starbucks but I couldn't be sure. I wanted to say hi, but I got too nervous. If it wasn't I'm so sorry and this probably sounds insane.
the only movies ive seen this year are skinamarink and infinity pool and im kind of shocked at the fact that i really liked skinamarink but didnt like infinity pool
I think this movie takes place in the same time period as It Follows. As for location it's clearly Edmonton because Edmonton is just like that.
Hearts hearts hearts
Hey quick question were you in we're all going to the worlds fair? I SWEAR I saw you
She was, she had on angel wings.
MISSSED YOUUUU
love u queeen
"Skinamarink 2: Sometimes Family Go Bad... Again!!
This movie felt like when it’s so goddamn hot for two straight days your skin is melting off and then it rains and you’re like oh thank god but the rain doesn’t actually cool it down it just stays in the air like a blanket of ick and you’re just constantly sweating and dehydrated and then someone suddenly touches you and you scream for eight years. Great film 10/10
I love talking about horror movies
I knew you'd get it sis
CATTLE DECAP SHIRT!!!