Imaginary: Movie Review

Cast: DeWanda Wise, Taegan Burns, Pyper Braun
Director: Jeff Wadlow

Essentially a film of two halves, Blumhouse Production's latest Imaginary proves to have a killer second act even if it's a bit of slog to get there.

Centring on Wise's Jessica, a children's illustrator who's plagued by nightmares, it's the tale of what unfurls when she heads back to her family home (her only true happy place) as she negotiates step-parenting and a new relationship.

But when the youngest girl Alice (Braun) discovers new friend Chauncey, an old teddy bear, in the house, it sets in motion a chain of events that will force Jessica to confront her past.

If the poster with its teddy bear leads you to think Imaginary is a hybrid of Chucky and Ted, then Imaginary does much to dispel that idea very early on. Making use of an essentially muted OST, the terrors of childhood nightmares and the best of a very warm empathetic lead, Imaginary initially feels like a film dawdling on its way to its conclusion.

Throw in a very exposition heavy neighbour who seems to crop up when any plot needs simply laying out, there's a very real feeling Imaginary has nothing up its sleeve other than to apparently rip off Poltergeist's creatures through the screen ideas, this time phased into a creature that lives behind a blue door in a wall. Coupled with elements that reek of the Insidious franchise's execution and ideas, there's a degree of familiarity throughout.

But around the one hour mark, the solid foundations left by Wadlow cement and morph into something a little more thought provoking that ultimately somewhat ends up feeling stymied perhaps by budget considerations.

Tackling trauma, dementia, loss and guilt all give Imaginary the basic tenets of a psychological horror, but a subtle twist perhaps best left untelegraphed turns the film on its head as it shifts into overdrive and moves away from cheap jump scares.

Effectively deploying a creepy dead eyed teddy bear and a troubled child, Imaginary is not exactly playing with an original canvas - but as it rattles toward its conclusion, Wadlow and his scriptwriters deliver something that's a lot more effective than really it deserves to be. (And there's much conjecture to be had over whether the final creature effects are due to where they're from, rather than the money running out).

Yet with Wise's plausible performance, along with admirable support from Braun and Burns, this female-led horror easily plays with perceptions and ideas to shape them into something a little deeper than expected.

It's not to say Imaginary is revolutionary by any stretch - and there's a distinct feeling a universe is being set up here at times - but by deploying and tackling expectations in ways that are unexpected, if you're willing to gloss over the set up, Imaginary more than delivers as an experience and on an idea.