Imaginary

3 out of 5 stars.

Imaginary is a fair supernatural horror film with a concept about children's imaginary friends becoming some evil entity in a spirit world. Its a bit of poltergeist like film. The film has some cheesy dialogue and it lacks the scares and horror. Which it could have added jump scares and be a little intense to make this film worthy.

The plot follows Jessica (DeWanda Wise) as she and her new family with her step children move into her old childhood home. After a tragedy happened with her and her father at the house that left her dad speechless and traumatized. Her step daughter Alice comes across a teddy bear which she makes out to be an imaginary friend which becomes very sinister.

The cast ensemble was okay. The story was decent. The script was a bit cheesy with the dialogue. And the direction with Jeff Wadlow has been lacking with providing any scares or intensity. Yes the characters come across something evil and the way it was filmed. It failed to even put you on the edge of your seat. Interesting concept but failed to execute the scares.

Overall, it was an okay film that failed to deliver on scares and thrills.

I don't know that anything could convince me that AI wasn't heavily involved with writing this. It's offensively bad. It's a boring concept, the bear is the least threatening thing I've ever seen, the plot barely exists, and it's way too long. I'd call it comically bad, but that would imply a "so bad it's good" sort of movie. It's almost insulting that Blumhouse is able to get away with making movies like this into a full theatrical release.

I hate this movie and everything that it represents. This is the laziest, most boring thing I've seen in ages, and there are people somewhere in Hollywood making millions of of it. Bleh.

Okay. Bear with me here.

If you love "horror" movies where a child all by her lonesome descends stairs into a dark and dirty cellar where creepy noises emanate from, why, oh who cares if no kid would ever do this in like, ever.

If you get creeped out by a Swifty taking a selfie and in the background of that photo, yikes! Lookout! There's some old lady neighbor photobombing, and she's got to be at least in her sixties!

Terrifying!

The acting and writing are tiresome and totally unbelievable. Not only do they not seem like a family, they don't even seem like they know each other at all.

And lastly, if sitting in on child psychology sessions is your bag, get ready to fill that bag full with this film.

This movie should be Teddy Ruxspin spinning out of control.

That's what we're all here for.

But it's not. And never is.

The entire movies plods along at a 3 until the end.

The end is just okay.

Influences of the art of M. C. Escher and much better 1990's horror flicks.

And Betty Buckley. She's always great. But here there's no eight, and she's just not enough.

Not to save this.

That makes this movie a tad more bearable at 4 stars.

My wife and I attended a screening of the Blumhouse film Imaginary (2024) last night. The storyline revolves around a woman with a tragic past who marries a man with two children, all moving into the stepmother's childhood home. As they attempt to adapt to their new life, the ghosts from their past, both figuratively and literally, resurface.

Directed by Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2), the film stars DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World Dominion), Thomas Payne (The Walking Dead), Taegen Burns (The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers), Pyper Braun (Erin & Aaron), and Betty Buckley (Split).

Despite its potential with all of the worthwhile elements, the movie falls short in putting everything together. While the family dynamic and characters are well-established, the revelation of the plot's intricacies causes the film to unravel. DeWanda Wise delivers a solid performance, and Pyper Braun's child acting feels authentic. The horror elements show promise with a few effective jump scares and one notable, albeit more fun than good, kill scene. However, the poorly written and overacted character of the old lady detracts from the overall experience. The film's conclusion, despite a couple of clever twists, fails to salvage the narrative.

In conclusion, Imaginary possesses the ingredients for a worthwhile horror film but falters in execution. I'd give it a 4/10 and recommend skipping it.

Ironically, I feel like the movie lacked some imaginative ideas for a movie like this. Also, is it me or is nothing actually that scary anymore? The actors weren't bad, they would only act out what's in front of them but I liked the idea of this movie a lot but not what was delivered, sadly. Also, I didn't see any need for the husband to even be in the movie, that felt like a pointless character to be trimmed out. Additionally, there is always the same kind of family dynamics in these movies with a miserable angsty teenager etc, would have been cool to make the movie stand out and not always follow the samey blueprint.