Review - Imaginary

 Imaginary (2024)

Director: Jeff Wadlow

Writer: Greg Erb, Jason Oremland, Jeff Wadlow

Stars: DeWanda Wise, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun

Where to Watch: Theater

Synopsis: 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.

Tagline:  Meet Chauncey. He's not imaginary, and he's not your friend.

Thoughts: So many thoughts. My first thought is, rather a statement actually, this is not a horror movie. I mean, if you're say, six years old, this might be a horror movie. But for any adult or teenager for that matter, this is solidly a kids movie. I'm not saying that in a snarky, "This wasn't scary enough for me!" way. I'm saying it because, this isn't scary enough for anybody. If you have children and you want to take them to a scary movie, this movie is for you. In fact, I'm not even sure why it's PG-13. Maybe there's a swear word? There was reference to drugs at one point. And a boy pees. I'm not sure how these ratings work. In fact, writer/director Jeff Wadlow cites 1982's Poltergeist as being an inspiration for this movie, and Poltergeist is rated PG and is ten times scarier than Imaginary. (I just remembered, one person does die off screen, maybe that's it.)

So, this teddy bear is "imaginary" but we the audience see him for almost the entire movie. There is a twist there later but, yes, the imaginary teddy bear is there. And his voice is that of the little girl whose friend he is. And they just go about their business, playing and trying to adjust to their new stepmom because og mom is mentally unstable? Sick? It's unclear. They don't talk about her even though she shows up once. Anyways, so the teddy bear, Chauncey, gets really big and scary sometimes, but that's really only reserved for the end of the movie and honestly, he looks ridiculous. They would have been better off using an actual live bear for the scary Chauncey, because real angry bears are terrifying. And angry Chauncey is ... jacked. And when the climax of the movie happens, dad, who is apparently a rock star? Has to leave and go on tour. Because we can't have a MAN around when shit goes down, because he'd like, fix everything right away and not let all the girls get in danger in the first place? It's a confusing plot point but I'm probably just overthinking it. The man is gone, we have to save ourselves. Oh shit. (moving on)

I mean, Jeff Wadlow does know how to make an actual horror movie. We can debate the merits of their quality, but in 2005 he wrote and directed Cry Wolf, in 2007, Prey. In 2018 was Truth or Dare. In 2020 was ::cough:: fantasy island. He's written and directed episodes for The Strain, and Bates Motel. So I know the dude can conjure up a kill and a scare. But I guess when you're making a movie for your six year old, you hold back...

I'm not exactly sure how Imaginary got marketed to adults. I feel a bit bamboozled. Like the evil Hollywood men are sitting in their fancy offices with their pencil mustaches tenting their hands together under their chins and going MWAHAHAHA. 

Yup, you got me. I've been got. You still made a shit movie, but I did see it so, the jokes on me.

2 out of 5 💀s