Don’t Pirate ‘SKINAMARINK’, Watch The Director’s Inspiring Short for Free
Running a horror website, we see a lot of stuff happen regarding our favorite genre and how certain films will “ride the wave”, so to speak, and become this viral thing that fans of the genre have to watch. October is a supremely busy month for the horror fan as every studio decides to offload their genre content within the month.
One film that I have been hearing about recently is Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink. It has been prompting viewers on TikTok to talk about it and as more people comment on it, the drive to see it raises. There’s only one problem, THE FILM IS NOT LEGALLY AVAILABLE AS OF THIS POST.
While I have heard of the film previously, the most I knew was that it played at Fantasia Film Festival (a festival we occasionally cover, but didn’t this year). Upon further investigation, it looks like the film has been leaked on the internet (DO NOT LOOK).
Skinamarink is a debut feature. This is someone’s calling card to step into feature-length filmmaking and already, thanks to someone leaking it, this “success” and word-of-mouth being generated is already sort of detrimental for the filmmaker.
SYNOPSIS
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.
Yes I care. I’m happy people like my movie, but I would prefer people watch it when it’s officially released, either in the theatre or on a legitimate streaming/digital service.
— Kyle Edward Ball (@kyleedwardball) November 27, 2022
Skinamarink has distribution and, from what I hear, will be released next year (You can follow the film’s distribution company, BayView Entertainment, on Twitter here).
UPDATE on 12/5/22: IFC Midnight will be distributing the film theatrically with Shudder premiering it on their platform later this year [via Deadline].
As tempting as it might be for you to hear from your fellow horror fan on TikTok about this new creepy film that they recently watched and now you MUST check it out, stop. Breathe. Put it on your Letterboxd watchlist and watch Kyle’s short film that was used as the jumping board for Skinamarink called Heck (embedded below)and know that you won’t contribute to crushing a possible developing film career in the independent market.
The problem that the film, and now its distribution, faces is that some of the fans that this film has garnered isn’t a “true capture”, meaning there is no financial impression made. The hype will continue to build and, because this is an independent film, the film will continue to be downloaded, viewed, and possibly reviewed on Letterboxd, TikTok, Twitter, or wherever and it will start the cycle again. In fact, I’m now questioning on authoring this post because I’m sure there will be one person who has the high demand of seeing this film right now and it can be acquired. Just know that if you are that person, nobody on the creative side of the table will benefit and it may jeopardize the future of not only this film but other films that Kyle can bring us.
We will keep everyone updated on Skinamarink and its release.
“Heck” is just one of the shorts that Kyle has created for his YouTube channel, Bitesized Nightmares.
Andy Triefenbach
Andy Triefenbach is the Editor-in-Chief and owner of DestroytheBrain.com. In addition to his role on the site, he also programs St. Louis' monthly horror & exploitation theatrical midnight program, Late Nite Grindhouse. Coming from a household of a sci-fi father and a horror/supernatural loving mother, Andy's path to loving genre film was clear. He misses VHS and his personal Saturday night 6 tape movie marathons from his youth.
[PODCAST] Ep. 93: SKINAMARINK
Episode 93’s main topic is Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink. Join Andy Triefenbach, Niles
ST. LOUIS: Win Passes to See ‘SKINAMARINK’
Live in St. Louis? Want to see the horror film you heard about on TikTok?