GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★
Rated: M
Directed by: Jeff Wadlow
Screenplay Written by: Greg Erb, Jason Oremland, Jeff Wadlow
Produced by: Jason Blum, Paul Uddo, Jeff Wadlow
Starring: DeWanda Wise, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Betty Buckley, Tom Payne, Veronica Falcón and Samuel Salary.
‘I’m sorry I couldn’t finish our game.’
I walked into Imaginary with low expectations – a killer teddy bear?
It’s got to be a parody, right?!
Aside for the overacting at times, and mention of a ventriloquist little girl because how is her imaginary friend speaking without the little girl moving her lips?
Again, I use question marks, I know. But it’s a questionable storyline that is somewhat successful.
From the same producers as M3GAN (2023), I went back and re-read my review and I wasn’t sure how to feel about M3GAN either. The premise is such a stretch, I wonder how it can’t be absolute trash, but somehow there’s a hook that keeps you watching.
For M3GAN, the humour made the film watchable, here, it was more about the scary, and yes, surprises along the way.
Imaginary opens quietly. A flickering light down a hallway. A bloodied woman escapes from a trapdoor in the wall – ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t finish our game,’ she says.
Enter Jessica (DeWanda Wise). She has nightmares and wakes next to her husband, Max (Tom Payne).
Jessica is the stepmum to Max’s two daughters, Alice (Pyper Braun) and Taylor (Taegen Burns).
Alice is endearing.
Taylor is hard work.
Most of the film focusses on the family dynamic.
After a scary start, Imaginary unpacks the relationships of a step mum struggling with change, getting to know her new daughters while moving back to her childhood home.
It’s here that Alice meets the teddy bear, Chauncey. Her new best friend.
Her imaginary friend.
‘Meet Chauncey.
He’s not imaginary.
And he’s not your friend.’
Without giving too much away, there’s more then an evil bear here; there’s thought put into childhood imagination and the relationship between children and the imagined entities that become their friends – the theory introduced by creepy neighbour, Gloria (Betty Buckley).
There’s a surreal dimension to the filming that echoed, Insidious (2010), in scratching the door to another world where those unwary get trapped.
And there’s a few surprises that keep up the entertainment, unfortunately some of those twists fell flat.
But in spite of the silly here, there’s some genuine scares, so in comparison, there’s more of a focus on the creepy here than M3GAN (which became funny more than scary).
There’s backstory to Imaginary, making the film a better watch than expected.