Skinamarink

Back at the end of July, when I’d worked through most of my review slate for Fantasia, I realised I had room to take on just a few more titles, going beyond what readers were already excited about and checking out some unknowns. One of those films was Kyle Edward Ball’s Skinamarink. I was quite unprepared for what I was about to experience. Though at first it may seem maddeningly obscure, this is a film that will seep into your subconscious, unsettling you at a deep level, and if you’re willing to let down your barriers, you will never quite be the same again. It is, quite simply, the most disturbing horror film to come along for decades, and there’s nothing else like it. It doesn’t so much break with formula as abandon it altogether. There’s smart science fiction underneath, and a faint echo of folklore,...