Indie horror is a touchy genre for many people. I always see lots of people say that the plots are boring and lack excitement, making their attention go elsewhere. That’s where most of the bad reviews of a brand-new indie horror film, “Skinamarink,” come from. I beg to differ, admiring the slow burn and staying keenly focused for 100 nightmarish minutes.

I can understand why constant jump-scares or a wild plot would keep your attention, but I just don’t find that to be the only reason a movie can be eye-catching. “Skinamarink” has a pretty simple plot: two kids awake in the middle of the night to be confronted by their dad’s disappearance. To the kids’ confusion, all outer doors and windows seem to have gone missing, left with a solid wall where they used to be.

The terrifying thing about this plot to me was that the kids don’t seem very freaked out, which set this apart from other horror films I’ve seen. Kids don’t understand the world around them, and while many other movies depict them as being easily freaked out, it’d also make plenty of sense for them to not grasp the situation surrounding them. The entire time I sat through this film, my stomach was turning and constantly I was wondering when I’d get hit with a brief scary image. That anticipation is what makes it so great. It’s like you’re creating your own fear, making it all just scarier.

What makes “Skinamarink” so interesting to me is how it evokes such anxious feelings without ever showing a character. The angles seem to come from a camera inside the home, all of which point away from the actors. The majority of the runtime has you looking down a dark hallway or up at the ceiling. The children seem to find some sort of comfort in having the TV on in the living room and sleeping on the sofas. The sound of cartoons and the occasional camera cuts to the episodes playing on the screen left me with such a feeling of dread. In relation to the movie’s great sound, the early minutes of the movie show the disappearance of the windows and doors with ominous and alerting sounds, along with cuts that flash the old entrances to the house. The movie’s concept of showing a being that was able to use the house’s isolation to watch over these kids is daunting.

I can understand that this movie might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but as a slow-burn lover, my needs were totally fulfilled. This film was done so well, without even needing people physically on screen. “Skinamarink” is available to watch online and will be getting a theatrical release in January 2023. I would definitely watch this on a big screen in the dark, so keep an eye out for it at the beginning of the new year.