Imaginary

Jessica returns to her childhood home with her family and stumbles upon her stuffed bear, Chauncey, which she abandoned when she left home. Eldest stepdaughter Alice develops a worrying attachment to the bear and begins to exhibit disturbing behaviour under the toy's malevolent influence. As other members of the family are drawn into the mystery, Jessica wonders if Chauncey is exacting revenge for being abandoned all those years ago.

LondonNet Film Review

Imaginary (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Moving back to your childhood home could be considered a blessing, or a curse, for some. In the case of Jessica (DeWanda Wise), an author and illustrator of children’s books, what seems like a fresh start becomes truly the stuff of nightmares. All is well until her youngest stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun) finds a stuffed bear called Chauncey in the basement of the house, which at first all seems innocent enough. But within days Alice’s demeanour changes and she’s relaying conversations she’s having with her “imaginary friend”, aka Chauncey…

From there, terror-filled nightmares for Jessica continue while the others in the house – husband Max (Tom Payne) and another stepdaughter Taylor (Taegen Burns) – also start experiencing strange things. As an offering from American film and TV production company Blumhouse, whose suite of horror titles includes Paranormal Activity, Insidious, The Purge, M3GAN and Five Nights At Freddy’s, there’s a high expectation set before you’ve even started watching the film.

Imaginary pairs blockbuster horror producer Jason Blum, who founded Blumhouse, with director and producer Jeff Wadlow. It is Wadlow’s third collaboration with Blumhouse following projects like 2018’s horror film Truth Or Dare. There are some great moments of scare and high-octane, anxiety-inducing scenes as Chauncey becomes a terrifying and otherworldly force. The real powerhouse to be reckoned with is Wise, who is an inspired casting choice to lead the film.

The American actress, 29, who was equally impressive leading Spike Lee’s 2017 Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, manages to keep the audience guessing while her character deals with layers of complexity and tension in a sometimes-lagging script. The glimpses back to Jessica’s childhood, especially her relationship with her father, are useful pieces of a fragmented puzzle and you almost wish they had been expanded on a bit more.

The tension present in Jessica’s role as a new stepmother is thoughtfully articulated, and the addition of the children’s biological mother, who struggles with mental illness, is well done. American actress Betty Buckley, 76, who we meet as mysterious neighbour Gloria, is a character that you want to learn more about, so more screen time with her would have been welcome . The concept of turning a child’s toy into something sinister is not new. Horror films like 1988’s Child’s Play set the gold standard for toys turning into terrorisers, so it feels like Chauncey as a concept has a lot to live up to.

The film does make you think about imaginary friends and the importance they often play in early childhood development, and it really calls into question the limits of human imagination. As a die-hard Blumhouse fan, it didn’t quite meet the very lofty expectations I’d set for it. It is a watchable, if slightly forgettable, film that has some decent tension.

– Kerri-Ann Roper