I think it’s pretty rare to get a horror or thriller movie on the big screen in the spring.
That’s why when “Imaginary” came out last weekend, I decided to give it a chance.
I even asked my mom if she could remember if any of her children had imaginary friends before I went to see it.
Well, the answer was a resounding ‘no’ and I’m not giving the movie high marks either.
Overall, I liked the concept but the execution just fell flat for me.
I attribute a chunk of those sentiments to the cast of whining children and catering to a PG-13 base rather than going for broke at an R-rating level.’
Imaginary is a 2024 American supernatural horror film directed and produced by Jeff Wadlow and written by Wadlow, Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland.
It is co-produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner and Tower of Babble.
The film stars DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Matthew Sato, Veronica Falcón, Alix Angelis, and Betty Buckley.
With a total run time of 104 minutes, the film is rated PG-13 for some violent content, drug material, and language.
Successful children’s author Jessica (Wise) has married musician Ma (Payne), who has two children – Taylor (Burns) and Alice (Braun).
Jessica has been plagued by nightmares which include her father Ben (Salary) and her fictional character Simon the Spider.
Following a move-in into Jessica’s childhood home, Alice discovers a teddy bear in the basement named Chauncey.
Alice quickly forms a bond with Chauncey and is soon insisting to everyone that they are best friends.
Their new neighbor Gloria – who is Jessica’s childhood babysitter - reunites with Jessica.
Gloria shares her memories of Jessica’s childhood, which she can’t remember.
One night, Alice and Taylor’s mentally disturbed and unstable mother Samantha (Angelis) sneaks into the home to talk to the girls before she ends up attacking Jessica.
The police arrive and end up taking Samantha away.
Taylor confesses talking to her because she thought her mother was doing better.
Jessica puts Alice to bed while remarking that she had a similar childhood friend.
Max soon embarks on a tour while Alice becomes hyper-focused on a scavenger hunt from Chauncey.
Jessica leaves to visit her father Ben, tasking Taylor with babysitting in the meantime.
Taylor invites the neighboring teen Liam (Sato) over.
Despite Taylor’s refusal, he grabs a bottle of alcohol and then ends up quickly dropping and shattering it.
Upstairs, he attempts to find a towel before being toyed by Chauncey, who briefly turns into a monstrous bear and renders him terrified.
Jessica arrives and ends up kicking Liam out, which angers Taylor.
Soon, Chauncey’s overwhelming presence in Alice’s life disturbs Jessica.
Narrowly, she stops Alice from slamming her hand down onto a nail, a part of the scavenger hunt (something that hurts).
Alarmed by her behavior and obsession with Chauncey, Jessica calls for psychologist Dr. Soto (Falcón) to intervene.
Soto, perplexed, observes Alice talk to Chauncey and speak on his behalf – the latter makes threatening remarks about Jessica.
Afterward, Alice sobs while proclaiming they shouldn’t be friends.
While talking to Soto, Jessica discovers that only she and Alice can see the bear.
While that’s the most interesting twist in the film, there is another as things progressively get darker.
Still, as far as horror films go, it could have been worse but I was expecting much better.
Overall, I think you can skip the line at the theater on this one.
