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Some horror films take viewers into previously unimaginable realms of terror.
Skinamarinks snowy grain and distorted audio will feel familiar to different generations for different reasons.
Skinamarinkwas indeed born in part on the internet.
Writer-director Kyle Edward Balls YouTube channel,Bitesized Nightmares, is full of short films re-creating commenters nightmares.
The camera lingers on blank walls, behind which we can hear faint whispering and scratching.
Skinamarinkgot a warm reaction at its Fantasia Film Festival midnight world premiere in late July.
Then, suddenly, it all seemed like it might fall apart.
Reddit users started posting about this weird movie they had found that was the scariest thing theyd ever seen.
Words likecursedandevilgot thrown around.
The buzz spread to TikTok, then to Twitter.
A viral word-of-mouth sensation was born.
At the time, Ball was unable to enjoy his movies growing notoriety.
Thats actually how I found out about the leak, he says.
The discovery prompted oppressive anxiety what he describes as a total emotional meltdown that lasted for weeks.
I felt like I won the lottery, then it was like,Maybe you didnt win the lottery.
Youll find out in a couple months.
Six days after its theatrical debut,Skinamarinkcrossed the $1 million mark at the box office.
The films haul is especially eye-popping when viewed next to Balls tiny budget.
(Thats 1/67th of $1 million for those without a calculator handy.)
Skinamarinkis a test case in both the benefits and perils of viral publicity.
The hype after the leak attracted media attention to this otherwise obscure micro-budget movie.
But Ball still believes that, in different hands, the leak could have killed his first feature.
I thinkSkinamarinkis the exception to the rule.
He has seen fan art online by people who mustve pirated the film based on when it was posted.
On the one hand, he appreciates that someone took the time to create art based on his movie.
On the other, their fandom is tied to an extremely stressful period in the filmmakers life.
Because it is still my movie.
