Sumith Prasad
Directed by Kyle Edward Ball, Shudder’s found footage horror film ‘Skinamarink’ follows four-year-old Kevin, who falls from the stairs of his home. After receiving the required medical attention from a hospital, Kevin returns home and sleeps, only to wake up along with his six-year-old sister Kaylee in the middle of a certain night. The siblings realize that their father has disappeared from the house and they have to deal with a monstrous entity that threatens their lives. As the film progresses towards the end, a text that reads, “572 Days,” appears on-screen, confusing the viewers. So, what exactly does the text means? Let’s find out! SPOILERS AHEAD.
Significance of 572 Days
“572 Days” is seemingly an ambiguous version of “572 Days Later,” which reveals the number of days that pass between the night Kevin confronts the monster entity and the day he wakes up to see a vague face. Before Kevin and Kaylee encounter the entity, the four-year-old boy falls from the stairs, injuring himself. Rather than returning to his house, Kevin may have gotten admitted to the hospital, likely in a coma. The monster entity and its confrontation with Kevin and Kaylee can be the creations of the little boy’s subconscious mind. If that’s the case, Kevin may have been in a coma for 572 days before walking up to see the vague face.
The possibility of Kevin being in a coma also explains how the child manages to survive more than a year. The vague face he sees after waking up may belong to his father and he fails to recognize the man as his dad likely because his memory is severely affected due to the impact of the fall from the staircase. Kevin may have taken 572 to regain his consciousness and return to normalcy. If the monster entity is real and not the child’s imagination, it may have been impossible for him to survive such a lengthy period, especially without no one to look after him.
Throughout the film, there are enough elements that validate the possibility of Kevin being in a coma. Kevin’s dad may have been an abusive father who hurt him and his sister Kaylee. The disappearing doors and windows can be representing how the two siblings are locked up in their house under the watch of their vicious father. When Kevin falls from the stairs, he may have gotten extremely frightened, which opens the floodgates of the fears he has been repressing. Thus, the most reasonable explanation behind the monster entity’s existence is Kevin being in a coma, which further explains the significance of the 572 days.
Another possible theory that explains the 572 days revolves around the monster entity being real and potent enough to manipulate time. The text appears along with an upside visual of Kevin’s house, possibly indicating the reversal of traditional concepts of time. A length of 572 days may have passed between the night of Kevin’s father’s disappearance and the day Kevin sees the vague face. Director Kyle Edward Ball must have omitted “Later” from the text since a day cannot conventionally pass without time progressing linearly.
Read More: When and Where Does Skinamarink Take Place? Is the House Real?
