Imaginary is a horror movie that severely lacks imagination and relies on an absurd plot and cheap thrills. It is another movie that pretty much gives itself away through all the trailers, so there’s little suspense when we see it. Did I mention it lacks imagination?
It stars DeWanda Wise as Jessica, a children’s author who is married and stepmother to two kids. They all move back into Jessica’s childhood home. Their youngest daughter discovers an old teddy bear in the basement and learns it’s called Chauncey.
At first, the family treats the situation as if Chauncey is the daughter’s imaginary friend, but then Chauncey tells the daughter to collect items for a scavenger hunt. This spells trouble for the characters, but in typical horror movie fashion, they have to be dumb. Otherwise, there’s no story.
The bear’s presence grows increasingly disturbing, making Jessica erratic. This leads to a series of moments in which the daughter is blamed for certain actions, but we all know who the culprit is. Did I already mention that this lacks suspense as well?
Imaginary’s structure is by the numbers, and it refuses to escape velocity until the climax. At that point, it takes us into a dream world of some kind, which had the potential to be interesting, but instead, the movie is much more content with turning into a standard movie chase. It has one crucial moment where it succeeds in playing to expectations, but then it devolves back into its absurdity until it becomes maddening.
Imaginary made me wish for a screenplay that is actually real, both in terms of its characters and its payoff. Like all imaginary friends, it’ll be forgotten about over time.
Grade: C-
(Rated PG-13 for some violent content, drug material, and language.)
