Watched Skinamarink tonight with a friend, and I've Got Opinions. There's not exactly anything you can spoil, but I'll put everything after the jump.
I was warned ahead of time that this movie has no plot. I deeply love horror movies, both good and bad, and I was trying to give this one an honest try. I'm still art school poisoned, so a weirdly shot and loosely plotted movie might be good! But it's a really bad sign when your viewers keep looking at the time stamp and thinking "No, there couldn't be another hour of this".
Camerawork: Most of the movie is composed of long, still shots facing weird angles; you'll be looking at softly lit or damn near dark corners of the ceiling, the floor covered in legos, the edge of an old tube TV playing Merrie Melody cartoons. Many of the scenes it's so dark that you're looking at a black screen, all with an incredibly heavy 'old scratched film' filter slammed right on top. Rarely you'll catch a glimpse of the actors; a leg here, back of the head, sometimes a hand. It really kills off any sort of connection with the characters. Even something like Paranormal Activity gave you a chance to get to know the people who lived in a cursed house.
I tried to be generous with the odd, almost stagnant shots. Usually if a movie is doing something like this with the camera, it becomes it's own character. Maybe we're watching from the ghost's (or malevolent entity) perspective? But it's just too pointless to be that. I can go for moody shots to set up atmosphere and tone, but too many of them and they start to blur together and become boring.
Story??: The movie is about two siblings that get trapped in a basement(?) by a ghost that can change the layout of the house at whim for 570+ days(?), or forever? Honestly, it feels like a House of Leaves creepypasta that was made into a movie. Any of the five spooky beats of the movie are the same common, tired tropes. Oh her eyes are missing! A growly voice tells the kid to cut himself! There are things on the ceiling! Other scares are of the lamest variety, pop scares from bursts of loud audio. Most of the movie is quiet except for a few whispered voices and cartoons blaring the background, so they feel even more lame. The movie asks a hell of a lot from the audience, asking them to bring their own tension and fears from home.
Skinamarink could have worked as a short, cutting a brutal 1 hour and 40 minutes down to 20 or 30. Plenty of time to still have the slow burn meandering, but not given the audience time to get bored by all of the similar moody shots of nothing. I think there can be a full length movie that's all vibes, but Skinamarink isn't it.
