When Trinidadian filmmakers Romario Reyes and Israel Silva co-directed the horror short film, All Skin No Laugh, they knew the title alone would carry cultural weight.
Drawn from the local proverb “All skin teeth ain’t laugh,” the phrase warns that not every smile comes with good intentions.
That sense of caution and underlying danger became the backbone of the short film, which merges folklore with current-day realities in Trinidad and Tobago.
Building a Caribbean Horror Short Film
Silva explains that All Skin No Laugh was directly inspired by Trinidadian folklore. While the country’s traditional characters have remained frozen in the past, he and his team wanted to create an original folkloric figure that could live in today’s cultural moment.
The timing aligned with a submission to Film and Folklore’s 2024 festival, giving the project both urgency and purpose.
Unlike Hollywood horror shorts that thrive on multiple scares, Silva took a different approach. “We ensured that it was a gradual incline of tension and fear,” he says.
“Three-quarters of the short film was raising the tension with the punch being at the very end.” By focusing on a single crescendo of dread, the film maintains intensity while delivering a powerful final scare.
Folklore Meets Modern Trinidad
Trinidad’s history & culture are stitched into the short’s DNA. The cautionary element behind the title reflects contemporary issues, where trust can be exploited in dangerous ways.
Criminals often manipulate empathy, Silva notes, preying on gender dynamics and using perceived vulnerability, sometimes involving Venezuelan refugees, to infiltrate homes.
This intersection of folklore and real-world fears deepens the film’s resonance.
“It is a cautionary tale as modern Trinidad and Tobago lives in a grey area where chivalry can be naivety, honour can be stupidity, and to help someone can mean putting yourself in peril,” Silva says.
A Distinct Caribbean Horror Identity
For Silva, All Skin No Laugh is more than just a film. It’s a contribution to a distinct Caribbean horror identity. While Hollywood often depicts characters responding unrealistically to paranormal events, Caribbean storytelling reflects its deep ties to religion and spirituality.
“It would be remiss for a Caribbean character to function in a scary situation like characters typically portrayed in a lot of Hollywood horror movies,” he says. By grounding the story in authentic Caribbean reactions, Silva hopes to carve out space for regional voices in global horror cinema.
Challenges of Indie Filmmaking in Trinidad
Making a Caribbean horror short film without studio resources brought its own challenges. Coordinating schedules proved difficult, as everyone involved worked on the project after hours. Budget limitations also forced creativity, with the crew pooling resources from family. Equipment came from their uncle, Stephen Lee Pow, while set pieces, including paintings, came from relatives.
Despite these constraints, Silva believes horror is one of the most accessible genres for indie filmmakers.
“You can cheat so much with horror,” he says.
“Most of horror design is based on audio anyway, it’s more what you hear than what you see.” He encourages others to experiment with phone cameras and sound design to create effective scares without major funding.
Themes and Audience Reactions
At its core, All Skin No Laugh explores the difficulty of trust. The film’s supernatural premise stems from a very real social fear: when an act of kindness can lead to danger. Silva and his team wanted the story to feel familiar enough for audiences to think, I would’ve done the same thing.
At the same time, the visceral final scare was designed to leave a lasting impression. For Caribbean audiences, Silva believes horror connects because folklore, Carnival, and traditional characters are already embedded in cultural life.
Looking Ahead in Caribbean Horror
While there are no immediate plans to expand All Skin No Laugh into a feature, Silva leaves the door open. “If we get an investor in it, definitely,” he says.
In the meantime, he and his collaborators are developing other projects that continue to explore folkloric horror.
Ultimately, Silva envisions Caribbean horror cinema taking its place on the global stage.
“It would add to the pool of new characters and new stories,” he says. “It would be so cool to see a French film do an interpretation of a Lagahoo, for example.”
With All Skin No Laugh, Silva shows that a Caribbean horror short film can deliver more than just scares. It can confront social realities, and redefine how the region’s stories are told to the world.