Imaginary (15)

Dir: Jeff Wadlow

Cast: DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne Taegan Burns, Pyper Braun, Matthew Sato, Veronica Falcon, Betty Buckley

Contrary to its title, this instantly forgettable Blumhouse horror is lacking in imagination but narrowly avoids being a total catastrophe thanks to a suitably wacky final act

In what has been an unquestionably poor start to 2024 when it has come to horror releases, it is justifiable for me to demand a satisfyingly spooky or violent scary movie. We have seen the likes of the tediously drab Night Swim come and go without making a splash at the worldwide box office so far this year, compared to this time last year when we had already been treated to the likes of M3gan, Scream VI and Infinity Pool.

The most recent attempt to kickstart the horror genre in 2024 is the latest film by the horror producing heavyweight Blumhouse Productions. Possibly one of the most profitable production companies working in the industry today, Blumhouse has been built on the ethos of producing low budget movies, predominantly horror, giving the directors full creative freedom. This undeniably fruitful business strategy has seen the company produce some megahits over the years including Get Out (2017), Five Nights at Freddy’s (2023), Split (2016) as well as huge horror franchises Paranormal Activity and Insidious.

Despite their financial success, the creative freedom and lack of budget given to relatively unknown filmmakers has resulted in an extensive but largely inconsistent back catalogue of productions. Their latest movie, ‘Imaginary’, is the studio’s eighth theatrical release in the past year and is helmed by Kick-Ass 2 director Jeff Wadlow. Wadlow himself has a longstanding relationship with Blumhouse and CEO Jason Blum, having previously directed the generic but hugely profitable Truth or Dare (2018) as well as the abysmal Fantasy Island adaptation in 2020.

This latest horror by Wadlow follows children’s illustrator Jessica (DeWanda Wise), who is attempting to form a bond with her two stepdaughters, angsty teen Taylor (Taegan Burns) and the younger, more accepting Alice (Pyper Braun). When Jessica and her musician husband Max, (Tom Payne), move into her childhood home, the imaginative and socially despondent Alice latches onto a seemingly normal Teddy Bear named Chauncey. The initially innocent interactions between Alice and her ‘imaginary’ friend start to become more and more sinister, as the stuffed animal begins to demand increasingly alarming actions from Alice to prove her friendship.

Having been exposed to Alice’s progressively disturbing behaviour, Jessica herself begins to uncover once dormant memories where Chauncey was apparently present. A traumatic experience from Jessica’s childhood, that ultimately left her father institutionalised, begins to once again take its toll as she, Alice and the sceptical Taylor look to uncover the dark, supernatural secrets surrounding Chauncey and put them to bed once and for all.

It may be a slight improvement on the aforementioned swimming pool horror, ‘Night Swim’, but unfortunately ‘Imaginary‘ will go down as one of the more forgettable ‘filler’ movies produced by Blumhouse. Contrary to its title, the imaginary friend horror film lacks the imagination to elevate it to even a mediocre standard. With an uninspired visual style, lack of scares and a plethora of exposition dumps, the latter of which flatly delivered by the clearly confused Betty Buckley, the film suffers from an unnecessarily convoluted plot considering its relatively straight forward premise.

Despite its desires to be a horror film, ‘Imaginary’ is more a kin to a family friendly gateway spookfest, somewhere between Disney’s The Haunted Mansion and The Gate (1987). The film is painfully lacking in scares or gore, making it incredibly lifeless and dull for any horror loving cinemagoer. It is not until we get to an unexpectedly wacky final act set in a CGI laden dreamscape that the film appears to take any creative risks, and while the presence of gravity defying corridors and monstrous cuddly toys prevents the film from becoming a full on snooze-fest, it just further highlights the lack of real horror on show.

It may not work on any level, particularly for those looking for a good scare, but ‘Imaginary’ is slightly saved from total embarrassment thanks to its silly and unintentional comedic final act. One of the most forgettable Blumhouse productions for sure, but the horror giant shows no signs of slowing down with upcoming sequels to M3gan and The Black Phone in the works, as well as an English language adaptation of the excellent 2022 Danish horror Speak No Evil coming later this year.