Skinamarink: The Recurring Nightmare Theory
Featuring two other popular theories
[Warning: This post contains spoilers for the 2023 horror film Skinamarink.]
I like the ideas presented in Skinamarink more than I do the movie itself.
Kyle Edward Ball is clearly a talented director and writer with a vision that has appealed to a lot of people. There's part of me that still gets chills thinking of certain parts of his 2023 independent horror film. But what Skinamarink does well is oftentimes marred by lengthy shots of hallways, walls, and classic cartoons blaring on a television. These ideas are great, and during certain sequences of the film, they add to the tension of whatever paranormal event is transpiring. Not being able to see the supernatural entity targeting Kevin and Kaylee, as well as never seeing their facial reactions to what's transpiring, makes some parts of the movie incredibly tense. However, the 100-minute runtime often feels overly long. With a few trims here and there, I feel like the movie could have been a half hour shorter and twice and impactful.
But despite my own misgivings with Skinamarink, the film has continued to stick with me in the weeks since I first viewed it. I'll admit it: The idea of two children being left alone after their father disappears—alongside some doors and windows in their house—kept me hooked, even if there were long stretches of the film that bored me at times. The most standout scene for me was a POV shot of Kaylee approaching someone she presumes is her missing father in her parent's bedroom, who urges her to look under the bed with a monotone voice. She does, but there's nothing there. Her father keeps urging her to do so, and the next time she looks back up, he's disappeared. Instead, her mother is on the other side of the bed, expositing cryptic dialogue. Scenes like this have kept me thinking of this movie, even if they were between stretches of silent, still shots that probably could have been cut by a minute or two each.
Part of my continued interest in the movie has stemmed from a prevailing fan theory surrounding its meaning. I've seen this idea discussed in multiple media outlets and YouTube videos about the film, all centering around the character Kevin. Multiple elements of the film's presentation could be interpreted as evidence that Kevin is in a coma. This ranges from old cartoons playing on the TV, to the disembodied voices and faceless figures throughout the film. Many of these visuals could be underscoring how Kevin can't interpret the world correctly because of his coma, including whatever's playing on the TV in his hospital room. This theory is also used to explain "572 Days," unexplainable text that appears once the house has turned entirely upside down. It's unclear what this could mean, but it fits into the coma theory by acting as a measurement of time for how long Kevin has been in a coma. The very end of the film, where a faceless figure tells him to "Just go to sleep," is thought to be a family member, likely his mother, that committed suicide while Kevin was in a coma. This family member is bringing Kevin into the afterlife, following the hundreds of days of pain he's suffered since entering his coma.
It's an interesting theory that does work with everything the movie presents the audience. It explains why, over the course of the film, everyone but Kevin seems to disappear or succumb to the influences of the entity lurking in the shadows. What that entity is remains unclear in this interpretation of the film, but it could be a vocal manifestation of whatever's happening around Kevin while he's in a coma. The theory makes sense, if you're trying to find a complex explanation as to why so many different, seemingly-unconnected elements of the film are presented the way they are. It's a safe bet for a meaning if you're looking to find a deeper message to what the movie presents.
But, even though it's an interesting idea and can definitely be interpreted that way, I personally don't buy it.
I think it's cool that Skinamarink has started conversations surrounding a deeper meaning to the film that makes it out to be more than its visual elements. In fact, when I first saw the film, I was under the impression that the movie was about a divorce the children were caught in the middle of. It could be considered a long, grueling process of their world being turned upside down, given how toys begin to stick to walls and ceilings as the film progresses. I'd originally believed the entity was some kind of abusive stepfather, explaining the disappearance of the children's real father and the removal of Kaylee's face. Their mother also disappears as well halfway through the movie, indicating that the abusive stepfather figure is the only parent they have left. "572 Days," then, could be interpreted as how long Kevin has suffered abuse, before perhaps taking his own life. Maybe the faceless figure at the end of the movie is Kevin, unable to take the abuse he's been suffering at the hands of the last guardian he has left.
But there were some parts of the movie, like Kevin falling down the stairs sleepwalking, or the entity becoming both Kevin and Kaylee's father and mother at certain points in the film, that also poke holes in this interpretation. Why include Kevin's sleepwalking in the film if it would never be brought up again throughout? How does an entity becoming the children's father and mother underscore anything pertaining to the coma or divorce theory? And what do the cartoons on the TV mean, outside of seemingly hinting at a general idea of being trapped? I wracked my brain regarding all of these elements, trying to pick out how Skinamarink was presenting everything. And while my theory is just one of many interpretations you can make about this film, it's the one that I relate most heavily too. Which is probably why I believe it.
When I was a teenager, there would be a recurring figure in many of the nightmares I had. This thing with a gaunt, black body, thin as a pencil, with arms and legs impossibly long for a human's. Its head was a large, black cube, which it would swing effortlessly from side to side as it hunted or intimidated me. I didn't like the way it crawled either, or how it would chase me down hallways. Faster than me. Crawling on the floor, the walls, the ceiling, as it got closer and closer despite my efforts to run away. It didn't show up all the time, but it visited my nightmares once every few months. Whenever I had a dream about the Black Box Creature, I would always wake up exhausted. Like I hadn't slept at all. The nightmare in my mind causing me to panic inside my own head so badly, it felt like I hadn't gotten any sleep.
Which is why I think Skinamarink is about a child's recurring nightmare and the mental toll it takes on him.
The film establishes Kevin as the protagonist early on, with Kevin's father talking on the phone about him sleepwalking and falling down the stairs. Right away, it appears that Kevin's dreams are having some kind of negative impact on his psyche. I believe that, because this is the only time we see Kevin's dad (assuming the entity is playing his role in all future scenes), the rest of the film takes place in Kevin's nightmares. Or, at least, a nightmare that also reflects his own mental state. It's a world that blends with his reality because of his propensity to sleepwalk. His body interacts with the real world while he's asleep, perhaps making the nightmares more likely to take place in his house. Which explains why it's his home that ends up being the location for everything that happens in the movie.
Watching the film, I felt like it was split into two rather even halves. The first half focuses on both Kevin and Kaylee following the disappearance of their father, as well as the doors, windows, and objects in their home that also continually vanish. They make do by watching old cartoons on the TV, some of which deal with the theme of being trapped as time goes on. The TV appears to represent how Kevin feels, with every night being yet another entry in his cycle of nightmares. Kaylee is there as a lifeline to his struggles, as she tries to relate to the nightmare reality he's stuck in. One of the most potent scenes of this is when the toilet disappears, forcing the children to push two buckets into the spot where it once was. One of them comments, "Gross," and while I don't know which child said it, I have a feeling it was Kaylee. If it were, then it could be her vocalizing her reaction to the part of Kevin's recurring nightmare when the toilet simply vanishes.
However, over time, the experience of Kevin's nightmares become only his, as there is nobody else who understands the toll it's taking on him mentally. Kaylee is shown to see this firsthand when she sees the entity taking on the role of her father and mother in the bedroom. Or, at least, that's the way the film is framed. When Kaylee's father asks her to look under the bed, it's possible that this is a metaphor for the "monster under the bed" fear that some children have. When Kaylee looks, there's nothing there, perhaps confirming for her parents that, despite her sympathy toward Kevin, Kaylee isn't suffering from the same nightmares that he is. When Kaylee's mother speaks later in the scene, she asks Kaylee to close her eyes. This could be seen as their mother wanting Kaylee to no longer indulge in stories of Kevin's nightmares, perhaps out of fear that doing so will only make them grow stronger.
That's why, progressing from this scene, Kaylee ends up losing her face. She is no longer allowed to see or speak about Kevin's nightmares, out of fear from her parents that they'll continue to get worse. There's also the possibility of a deeper meaning to that interpretation. Instead of doing anything about Kevin's worsening nightmares, his family has instead opted to ignore them in hopes that they will go away. Instead, they only grow stronger, with Kevin hearing the sounds of bones breaking, heavy breathing, and feeling more isolated than ever before now that Kaylee is no longer allowed to speak about the nightmares with him. However, in Kevin's worsening mental state, he may think that she doesn't talk to him about the nightmares anymore because of whatever is haunting him in said nightmares. Whether it's a real entity or just a recurring, made-up mind monster doesn't matter. For Kevin, it's real, no matter how it appears to anyone outside his periphery.
The strongest piece of symbolic evidence offered that Skinamarink is documenting Kevin's recurring nightmare happens when one of the cartoons plays on the screen. This cartoon in particular is Prest-O Change-O, a 1939 short featuring a dog watching a rabbit do magic. A scene that the film makes note of is when the rabbit squishes himself until he disappears. Only for the scene to repeat again. And again. And again. Each time, the rabbit vanishes, but his disappearance is temporary. Soon the dog is forced to watch the rabbit vanish over and over again, always on the same loop. The repetition associated with this scene could symbolize how Kevin is just like the dog. Helpless to do anything but watch the impossible happen before his very eyes. That impossibility being a monster in his nightmares taking his family away from him, impacting him psychologically. Over and over again, the nightmare repeats. But there's nothing Kevin can to do stop it.
His toys soon become uninteresting. They lay scattered on the floor, or they start to stick to the walls and ceiling of the house. Kevin's world is turning upside down as he begins to lose control. I believe that, because things begin to physically change, it's a symbol for how the nightmares are getting worse. Kevin has no control over the recurring entity, which soon begins to force Kevin to inflict pain on himself within the nightmare world. Or, perhaps, he starts to inflict pain on himself in the real world out of his sheer inability to cope with his nightmares. Maybe, because he's been left to his own devices, Kevin is unable to understand the difference between reality and his dreams. Which is why, when the demon tells him to cut his eye out, he does so. Whether it's in the dream or not is unclear, but perhaps that's on purpose. It's as unknowable to us as it is to Kevin.
Which brings us to the mystery of 572 days. Seen onscreen with this text are a multitude of children's toys, which are now upside down on the ceiling. This includes a house, which acts as the only setting Skinamarink takes place in. The house itself may represent Kevin's mental state, having been flipped upside down due to the recurring nightmares. The toy radio in the center underscores how there's nobody who will listen to what he's going through. It's a toy, so it's not like he can use it to listen to or communicate with anyone. He's trapped, alone with the experience he is forced to suffer through. I believe that 572 days is representative of how long his recurring nightmare has lasted. He's been trapped for 572 days in the same nightmare, doomed to experience the same terrible dream every time he goes to bed. Perhaps Skinamarink in its entirety is the 572nd time that Kevin has been in this nightmare state.
This sequence is followed by what appears to be the demon killing Kevin over and over again in the hallway. Screams, blood, blood that disappears, and darkness. This is how Kevin's dream always ends. The monster, or entity, or demon murders him, spilling his blood across the hall carpet every night. And Kevin, now unable to differentiate the waking world from his dreams, believes this to be real. Perhaps the boy fears going to bed every night, trying to play with his toys and watch the TV, until both are eventually taken away in his slumbering state, as his world turns upside down.
The final shot of the film is the biggest mystery regarding this theory. The faceless person wants Kevin to go to sleep, but Kevin also doesn't know who they are. It's unclear whether this is part of the dream or not, but given the person's insistence that Kevin should sleep, it's likely that this is one of his parents coming into his room after he wakes up screaming from his nightmare. They're faceless because Kevin has woken up in the middle of the night from yet another terrible dream, unsure if he's even perceiving the real world or not. Because of this, whoever is standing over his bed becomes faceless, as he's unable to perceive them as any different from the entity tormenting him in his nightmares. The insistence for him to sleep hints that, much like Prest-O Change-O, the entire film will once more play on loop for him. Maybe it will be slightly different, but the nightmare will continue to haunt him, perhaps for 572 days more.
My theory is not the definitive interpretation of Skinamarink, and there are plenty of stretches that I made when presenting it. Much like the coma theory or the divorce theory, there's enough left up to interpretation that could be used to poke holes in the recurring nightmare theory. Personally, though, I subscribe to this theory because it feels like it makes the most sense with what is being presented at face value. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one, and I believe Skinamarink being the 572nd time Kevin has had the recurring nightmare we're experiencing alongside him is what the film is showing us. Perhaps there's a deeper meaning to it than this, but I like the idea that the movie was made with the simplicity of a nightmare in mind. Or perhaps the complexity of the mental toll recurring nightmares can have on children if not properly addressed.
Skinamarink as a film is not perfect, and I don't think I'll be rewatching it any time soon. However, many of its scarier sequences stuck with me, even if they were separated by needlessly-long stretches of walls, ceilings, and floors. This film felt more like a test run for Ball, and definitely something he can use as a stepping stone for whatever his next project may be. But even if I didn't think it was a perfect film, I can't deny that Skinamarink made me think. There's so many ways for this movie to be interpreted, and Ball does an excellent job at somehow making me think the film was just okay, while also keeping it trapped inside my head. As I consider the recurring nightmare theory, I wonder if the film spoke to me because of my own experiences with the phenomenon.
Skinamarink is truly a feat in letting the audience ascribe meaning to a film.
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