PLOT: A woman returns to her childhood home to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is very real and unhappy that she abandoned him.
REVIEW: 2024 has already not been a great year for Blumhouse horror films. Night Swim absolutely sunk on release and I can’t imagine a world where Imaginary does well. Because everything about this PG-13 horror venture feels tired and uninspired. That’s not a massive surprise, as the trailer induced groans at nearly every screening I’ve attended over the last few months. But whenever these kinds of movies are released, I always wonder: is there at least some dumb fun to be had? Unfortunately, this one is nearly barren of entertainment value.
Imaginary follows a young artist named Jessica (DeWanda Wise) as she returns to her childhood home with her new husband and stepkids, Alice and Taylor. There’s a mystery around what happened to her as a kid, as young Alice makes an imaginary friend of her own. Weird things start to happen as Jessica starts to realize that she may know Alice’s new friend. And if you’re hoping for some fun mystery elements then prepare to be disappointed. Every twist and turn is telegraphed well in advance, with some reveals happening more than one time.
One of Imaginary‘s biggest issues is its overreliance on exposition through dialogue. I lost track of the number of times a character just described exactly what was happening and erased any sense of nuance. It got to the point of absolute hilarity as the filmmakers simply won’t let a moment go unexplained. Even if that character is by themselves. They instantly need a character to come in and spell things out for the audience. It reeks of a studio demanding more clarity, in the process dumbing everything down to the lowest common denominator. Which is too bad because there are a few interesting ideas, but they never have any time to develop, often being sidelined by something idiotic.
There’s not a single character to root for as they’re all so bland and one-dimensional. Wise does her best, but Jessica is such a nothing person on the page. Taylor is the stereotypical emotional time bomb of a teenager, getting angry for no reason, and making nonstop bad decisions. They try to add a conflict between her and Jessica, but there’s not much reason for it. Not even a misunderstanding. It feels like Taylor was simply told that kids are supposed to be mean to their step-parents and she gleefully took on the challenge.
Despite tipping his toes in the genre for the last twenty years, director Jeff Wadlow fails to make anything interesting yet again. Like his prior efforts Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island, Imaginary relies on jump scares and dull characters to make up its runtime. Unlike either of those trainwrecks, I struggle to even laugh at this. The “so bad it’s good” genre can make for a great watch with friends, but there needs to be something to latch onto to carry it into that holy ground. Unfortunately, this just treads water until winding up exactly how you expect it to. There are no stakes and such minimal consequences that I couldn’t help thinking: what was the point?
The third act finally gives us something slightly more unique and interesting. I obviously won’t go too far into detail, but it involves a lot more imagination than anywhere else in the film. Imaginary is at its best when it’s taking advantage of a fantastical/nightmarish setting. But it does this so little, that I question why they even decided to make a movie on this subject matter in the first place. An imaginary friend in the horror space should have resulted in so much more. Instead, the audience is going to have to keep on using that imagination if they’re hoping for a good movie.
IMAGINARY IS IN THEATERS IN THE US ON MARCH 8TH, 2024.