Synopsis
In this house...
Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.
Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.
The House, Skinamarink: El Despertar Del Mal, Скінамарінк, اسکینامارینک, 魔童谣, 魔童謠, Skinamarink: Canção de Ninar, Паранормальные явления: Скинамаринк, 스키나마링크, Skinamarink: El despertar del mal, Skinamarink - Il risveglio del male
You _really_ need to be immersed for this movie to work, like you gotta watch it alone without lights. Not even as like a 'challenge', but just because the movie is so slow and the shots are so ambiguous it's very easy to lose your attention. If you watch it with friends, you guys are just gonna be talking the whole time like "OH whats that? is that a face? wait what room is this? have we seen this corner before. OH is that the dad? Did the legos move?" etc. My immersion wasn't great for this movie because I was eating a really yummy bowl of chili, honestly it was REALLY good chili I really knocked it out of…
Reduced me to a child, hand over my mouth, tears in my eyes, a pit in my stomach. Surreal and familiar in the same stroke, liminal horror existing at the crossroads of comfortable, mundane surroundings and everything we can imagine might be in the darkness on the other side. It leaves you anticipating the revelation, begging to see something that might reduce the horror with its tangibility, but when it finally begins to reveal itself you can only shrink and cower and plead with it to stop.
I really appreciate the swing here, it's gorgeous and the vibes are just terrific. But it's fucking boring, I'm so sorry. At an hour-forty I was just begging for it to do something, anything. Absolutely and admirably not like anything you're likely to find in a multiplex ever again, but I'd argue there's a really good reason for that.
Do you enjoy extended shots of walls, ceilings, or pitch black rooms? What about watching lights turn on and off? Are you a fan of movies with absolutely no story or character development? Are you easily impressed by After Effects filters that are noticably on a loop, making the movie look grainy beyond belief? Then have I got the movie for you!! You're going to shit your pants when they dial numbers on the phone and whisper in the darkness. Shiver in fear when nothing happens for ten minutes at a time. Your anxiety will be through the roof when the camera slow pans to an empty hallway or a floor full of legos. You will be forced to cover…
Fuck you. I just spent an hour and 40 minutes of my life staring at furniture while people whispered shit for no reason.