The Skinamarink Lego Detail That Sticks Out To Fans
Potential spoilers ahead for "Skinamarink."
The new movie "Skinamarink" may be the most unique horror movie to come out in years, as well as the first genuinely unnerving film of 2023. Written and directed by feature first-timer Kyle Edward Ball, shot on a budget of $15,000 in his parents' house, "Skinamarink" follows two small children — Kevin and his sister Kaylee — who wake up in the middle of the night to find out that their father is missing, all the doors and windows in the house are gone (along with, bizarrely, the toilet bowl), and someone or something else in the house is manipulating events, and possibly reality, around them.
Shot to look like a dingy print of an independent film from the 1970s, "Skinamarink" creates a suffocating sense of dread through silence, little or no lighting, and weird camera angles that often represent the viewpoint of the children, whose voices we hear and bodies we half-see, but whose faces we barely glimpse. Inexplicable occurrences — objects appearing on the ceiling, the children's parents seen sitting on the side of their bed and then disappearing — often happen in a darkness that gradually feels as if it's filled with something lurking just beyond our perception.
In one of the film's more heartbreaking conceits, Kevin and Kaylee grapple with the circumstances in the only way kids can — by seeking comfort in what they know. The flickering old TV (the film is allegedly set in 1995) plays vintage cartoons nonstop, while the living room floor is littered with toys, including stuffed animals and Kevin's extensive collection of Legos. It's the latter that has drawn the attention of some fans — and one viewer's criticism.
Did Skinamarink's director get his Legos wrong?
In a post on a Reddit post dedicated to "Skinamarink," u/123ilovemitski wrote that the Legos seen on the floor of Kevin and Kaylee's house are not in fact from 1995, when the film is supposedly set.
"Second shot, and you're looking at lego set 60249, which came out in 2020 — and this movie is supposed to be set in '95," they remarked. "We also see numerous parts that weren't around in the 90s like the rectangular support girder 64448, modified 1x2 plate with bar handle 60478, 16x4 wedge 45301, and of course the new orange brick separator. totally ruined the immersion."
While u/123ilovemitski admits further down the thread that they're kidding and the misplaced Legos did not in fact ruin the movie for them, other users were quick to suggest another explanation: that the year means nothing because the house and the children themselves have been displaced in reality by the entity controlling them (there's a reveal near the end of the film that supports this theory as well).
"I think either the house or the children were moving through time and space," wrote u/740kaby. "The trailer said 1973, and the movie is 'set' in 1995. Take notice of how the cuts in the beginning are significantly different than in the third act. The dissolves change quite a bit, as well."
For the record, director Kyle Edward Ball has said that a lot of the toys are from his own childhood, although he borrowed the Legos from a friend who had a collection of them (via Filmmaker). Whether the little plastic bricks are a deliberate part of the film's temporal and spatial disorientation, or a simple continuity mistake, you probably have to be a real Lego nerd to notice the difference. Our guess? "Skinamarink" will have you too terrified out of your wits to even care.
"Skinamarink" is out now in theaters and premieres February 2 on Shudder.