WRITING A COHERENT REVIEW OF SKINAMARINK IS HARD.

Song of the day: “Jack-o’-Lantern-Man” by the Bravery. 

Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m going out to get vaxxed, then get brunch and dinner. I’m slowly redecorating my room, so I got some posters but won’t unwrap them until tomorrow. Also bought more winter clothes. Wearing black jeans rn. The first jeans I’ve worn in years. I don’t usually like wearing pants lol. 

Finally saw Skinamarink. Expectations were met. It blew me away. Like, an entire essay could be written on why I liked it so much. Watch it if you value aesthetics over plot in film. I do. 

At least when it comes to horror movies. I tend to watch horror and read (murder) mystery. Not so much the other way around. Whereas mysteries are plot-driven, horror media can either rely on plot or visuals/descriptions and be enthralling.

One problem I have with a lot of films is their cinematography. It often seems to take a backseat to plot, dialogue, and score/soundtrack. Which is why I love aestheticism. Well, that and symbolism. Deeper meanings are great, too.

I adore all the fan theories Skinamarinkers (?) are coming up with. Normally, “he’s in a coma” fanons bore me. But the dad said Kevin bumped his head, then the rest of Skinamarink is basically a hundred minutes of nursery nightmares. Faces aren’t shown properly.

MAKE SURE TO WATCH WITH SUBTITLES. (Unfortunately, the director’s commentary doesn’t have those.) AND THE SHORT PROOF OF CONCEPT HECK BEFOREHAND. It’s on YouTube. If you like it, you’ll like Skinamarink. Also, it unnerved me a bit more.  

Skinamarink made me feel so many things. Excitement. Nostalgia. Sympathy. Nostalgia. Fear. Well, mostly just fear when the phone got those toony eyes. There are a couple jump scares, but the movie’s more about slowly mounting dread. Plus making viewers pity the protagonists.

I feel like I’m super biased towards Skinamarink because it taps into my nostalgia. The amount of media it makes me want to reminisce about... All those “child(ren) up against a bogeyman” stories.

Those parallels between the classic cartoons and what the Voice in the Dark does to Kaylee and Kevin. The same Fisher-Price toy phone we had. Classic cartoons that were on either VHS or LaserDisc, watched in our snug basement. “The Cobweb Hotel” creeped me out so badly as a kid. At least I had my great-grandmother’s elephant figurines to watch over me. Dad’s cuckoo clock, too. 

The commentary mentions there are some anachronisms, like with the toys. Skinamarink takes place in 1995, but has that orange LEGO brick separator from 2011. Which just makes it more personally relatable to me.

My family’s always been practical, using things until they break. I have a DVD player that’ll turn twenty next year. So it wouldn’t surprise me if someone else has the VHS player somewhere. The only movies I remember watching on LaserDisc were The Wizard of Oz and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. But Oz is one of my all time faves and got watched a LOT. We had a bunch of obsolete or antique things and new things.

Going back to the toy phone… There was a Bruce Coville Magic Shop book that had a witch call the protagonist and her little brother on one. Jennifer Murdley’s Toad? And I’ve seen creepy art of Fisher-Price phones before.

Disclaimer: ED IS WRONG. CANADIANS NEED TO GET WEIRDER. I hope Skinamarink inspires people to make more weirdass movies.

Note: Hottest animated characters, part thirteen. Did anyone else read Journal 3? “Raspy voice, which Grenda said was ‘SUPER HOT!’ Worried about her.” -Dipper on the Summerween Trickster. I’m reading MHA and BB, but I’ve still yet to watch either.

10. Summerween Trickster (Jeff Bennett) from Gravity Falls

He was hot until he took off the mask, okay? HE WAS HOT UNTIL HE TOOK OFF HIS MASK. And clothes. :(

9. Bolin (P.J. Byrne) from Avatar: The Legend of Korra

Romantic and thicc.

8. Desire of the Endless from The Sandman

Androgynous, Nagel-esque shapeshifter. Keyword shapeshifter. 

7. Florian (Harry Stockwell) from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Somehow enthralls me more than other Disney princes.

6. Sunny Bridges (André 3000) from Class of 3000

Nice voice, good with kids, leggy.

5. Zurg (James Brolin) from Lightyear

In Toy Story, he’s a father. In Lightyear, Zurg’s a daddy.

4. Undertaker from Black Butler

Cutely gothier than you.

3. Blot from Red Eclipse

Thiccink’n’transformationkink.

2. Bane (Joaquim De Almeida) from The Batman

My animated introduction to a gimp. Who transforms into a bigger gimp.

1. Kurogiri fron My Hero Academia

Isn’t his loyalty to Shiggy cute?

Note: Previous part. Blot isn’t the first time I’ve liked an inky character, or Bugs Bunny.

Note: Ten favorite monsters, part seven. Part six. To be clear, do to past confusion, these are not lists of monsters I’d bang. Adult-content creator =/= turned-on 24/7.  ._.  Sometimes I just like to talk about character design and review media I like.

I pretty much like every kind of dragon, from friendly to terrifying. If we’re going off of scary, my favorite’s maybe from The Mists of Avalon. A lot of my fave monsters are literary, but don’t have official art. :(

1. Cat in the Hat from The Cat in the Cat

The Cat in the Hat’s more enjoyable if you view it as demonic horror. There’s a lot of elements I like. Quirky architecture, jokes that go over kids’ heads, goofy magic companion, fun costumes. Yet it’s not a good movie, even by my standards. Audrey Geisel was so disgusted by it, any plans for future live-action adaptations of Theodor’s works were nixed.

I’m kind of glad TCITH was the bad live-action, early ‘00s Seuss movie instead of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Imagine how horrifying they could have made the Grinch.

2-4. “Girly girl” dragons

5. the Moving Finger from Nightmares & Dreamscapes

Horror doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.

6. Jean Jacket from Nope

Take elements of UFOlogy, meteorology, marine biology, and animal exploitation, then produce the most terrifying movie monster ever.

7. Stuff from The Stuff

Metaphor for frozen yogurt? Diet food craze?

8. Scary Lion from The Teletubbies

A good example of how audio can determine whether something is cute or terrifying. 

9. Wild Things from Where the Wild Things Are

One elementary art class, we got to make our own chimeric Wild Things. Wish I knew where mine was. They’re grotesque, like to party, and actually pretty wholesome.

10. subway station from The Wiz

The Wiz is an interesting localization of The (Wonderful) Wizard of Oz. Garland!Dorothy is taken from Kansas to a mostly unfamiliar fantastical land. (I say “mostly,” because some of the Ozians have Kansan counterparts.) Ross!Dorothy is taken from NYC to fantastical NYC.

Originally, I considered using the book Kalidahs ‘cause I love mix-’n’-match critters. Then I watched this scene. That and the Munchkins coming out of graffiti like ghosts out of chalk outlines was oneiric as fuck. Anyway, the station isn’t just a liminal space, but another architectural monster. The train itself never appears, but we see trash bins and columns advance on Dorothy and co. There’s seemingly non-automated gates and prehensile electrical wires. Also, that peddler with his growing marionettes…

Note: The pic for “The Moving Finger” is actually from the show Monsters, but I only found out it was adapted after deciding to include it. Nightmares & Dreamscapes has one of my favorite covers, even if it’s deceptive. No scarecrow stories.

Unfortunately, the last gif can’t convey the awesome liminal horror that is the Ozified Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station. Fun fact, it was also used in The Warriors. 

Note: It ended up turning into noncon, instead of just “rough lovemaking.” Also check this judge-m0rt1s story if you wanna boogie with Ooogie. 

Imagine Oogie Boogie manhandling you. 

Trying to Turn My Dog into a Furry

This picture was actually taken during the summer. Way too chilly to go sleeveless now. 

Everyone have their Halloween costumes? I still need mine. My Boxapoint has hers!

Is that now a popular mixed breed? Because I keep running into dogs that look eerily like her. It’s also like all of a sudden we’ve been meeting plenty of Boxers and Pointers, too. 

Anyway, we’re so ready for Halloween! My birthday’s this week, too. I already got some nice presents. Every year I want practical gifts more and more.

What’s your favorite Halloween media? Here are some of mine: 

Second time watching Nightmare before Christmas as an adult. I appreciate it now waaay more than I did as a fetus. (But the side monsters and even the mundane characters should get more love.) It’s great that stop motion had a resurgence this year! Also, like how TNBC is both a Halloween and Christmas movie, is Curse of the Were-Rabbit a Halloween and Easter movie?  

Song of the Day: “LIKE YXU WXULD KNXW (AUTUMN TREES)” by Kordhell, Scarlxrd, and CORPSE. 

🧿 HAPPY AUTUMNAL EQUINOX. BEHOLD MY VISAGE. 🧿

Actually, the equinox was last week. Enjoy this post-shower, mid-bathroom cleaning, pre-harvest festival selfie. (Ended up hitting another one the next day. I love fall.)

Got a SlimpySwampGhost “Sisters of the Ever Sharpening Blade” t-shirt as an early b-day present for myself. Pale blue is pretty. 

I want to update my wardrobe to include more ghostly spooky stuff instead of mainly bones and celestial objects. Also thinking of getting detached sleeves so I can wear t-shirts in winter (under jackets and hoodies).

Honestly, after Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, and Christopher Robin, I realized I’m not going to be a big fan of Disney’s live-action (or CGI) reboots.

Be free to recommend more villains, though. Requests are closed, so I won’t touch those kinds of asks until I’ve gotten caught up, but I love discussing movies/characters lol.

Also, my computer’s been acting up and it’s easier to format stuff on desktop than mobile, so that’s why I’ve posted imagines but not requested ones lately. Emptying out my drafts.

Would Oogie Boogie hire a babysitter for the trick-or-treaters for legit reasons THEN come onto him, or would he hire reader with the full intention of leg worship? 

Besides Gantu, I’m partial to David. Cobra Bubbles and Moses would probably make decent boyfriends, too. Man, I gotta watch Lilo & Stitch again some time.

If people can find Yautja attractive, then she can be labeled a space MILF. Or GMILF, if you want. No ageism (or alien kink-shaming) allowed! FurAffinity has Grand Councilwoman rule 34, but some of it’s more extreme (and squicky) than I was expecting. 

She’s trickier… The Councilwoman’s probably menopausal and/or genetically incompatible with humans, so maybe she’s down to be cream pied?? And she probably likes the contrast between her species’ hands and humans’. So hand holding is common when you’re alone with her. Also, fingering.

Gantu’s thicc. We will not be shamed. He’s like a space whale merman guy. With thick legs. So maybe Gantu’ll sing some type of mating song if he wanted to court you? He’d probably be competitive about it, too. Trying to intimidate any other potential rivals. 

I have not. *googles* “She has visited Skylar in her house twice (when Skylar was a baby), threatening her.” Wow, she is a monster. Who threatens a baby? Twice, no less.

Missing Gothic Indie Films

This is a long shot, but honestly I didn’t know how else to find them, and I thought I’d post this here on the off chance that either you or someone out there might know of the films I’m going to talk about.

Anyways, many years ago (I was in my early to mid teens, living in Canada at the time), and one early morning I saw one full indie film, and a small portion of another.

One was about The Grim Reaper teaching his 18 year old son how to do what he does, but his son didn’t want to reap souls. Instead he wanted to make friends with people. Eventually, the two made a bet that if the son could successfully make friends with the people in this one house, then the son would be exempt from harvesting souls (or something… Again, going by memory).

But when the son goes into the house, the husband, wife, and their young son are all terrified by this intruder “claiming” to be the grim reaper’s son. But also, their 18 year old daughter ends up terrifying the reaper’s son because she keeps trying to have some alone time with him, and he wants no part of that.

The only part of that movie that stuck with me for years is when the husband of the house screams “WE GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!!” and opens the door to find the Grim Reaper standing there with a big smile saying “How’s he doing??”

The other one (the one I saw only a part of) was about this alternate reality where dead people lived. I guess they were zombies because they’d crawl out of the ground each morning, but they weren’t rotted.

The main character was this woman who I can only describe as “Sally Skellington’s goth big sister” (Like, she looked A LOT like Sally). There’s a part where a narrator goes “And her favorite hobby was playing with birds”… She then whips out a shotgun, bags two crows, and then gets on her knees and starts to play with them like they’re dolls. I THINK that one was supposed to be a love story, because I vaguely remember a man her age crawling out of the earth like she did, but I don’t remember for sure.

I’ve been trying to find both of these films for years, and I’ve searched in a billion ways with zero success. If you or anyone else knows which movies they are, please let me know, because it’s been driving me crazy for years!!

Tawney: We were able to determine over DM that the first movie was The Dim Reaper. Thanks, IMDB. M0rt1s is still looking for the second, though. 

All we know is that she’s definitely not Julie from Return of the Living Dead III. Also, there’s a lot more zombie/undead-centric short films than ones about the Grim Reaper.