“I just love children’s imaginations. What I don’t like is when they get so violent.”
Blumhouse is one of those horror factories that have changed the way horror films are created, seen, and marketed. There have been some powerful horror films to come out of those doors. When I think of Meg3n, the first couple of Paranormal Activity films, and even the Purge franchise, I see clever and innovative films. But the production house can be a bit feast-or-famine, and there have been a number of famine films on the bill. Among the famine list of films you’ll find Truth Or Dare and the crazy horror/hybrid take on the old Fantasy Island series. What do both of those films have in common? They were directed by Jeff Wadlow. So imagine, pun intended, my surprise when the latest collaboration between Wadlow and Blumhouse, Imaginary, turns out to be yet another disappointment. For Blumhouse there are more hits than there are flops. For Jeff Wadlow? He’s 0-3.
“Every culture has entities that tether to the young. We call them imaginary friends.”
Jessica (Wise) is a children’s book writer and illustrator. She is trying desperately to find a way to bond with her new stepdaughters, and that’s not easy when one of them, Taylor (Burns) is an angst-driven teen who has no real interest in bonding to the woman she sees as an intruder in her family. Then there’s Alice (Braun), younger and not so hostile. Jessica has been having recurring nightmares that tie into the villain spider from a series of her books. Caught in the middle and worried about everybody is husband Max (Payne) To help create the bond and to try to get some inspiration, the family moves into her childhood home. At the home young Alice appears to have found an imaginary friend, who is a stuffed bear named Chauncy. At first it’s all pretty innocent stuff,, but something from her own childhood starts awakening in Jessica. We all get a pretty idea of where this is going when Chauncy appears to be somewhat hostile and rather unhappy with the people in Alice’s life. We think we know where this is going, and the setup has us prepared for the horror to come. Of course, it doesn’t really come.
Let me explain. Certainly the horror comes, but it hits us sideways and with far too much exposition. The “entity” is really tied to Jessica, and it takes the family too long to start connecting the dots. When the dots are connected, it happens far too much in explanations. The horror element falls flat as Jessica and her new daughters have to fight together to escape a crazy fantasyland, and the thrills just never equal the reactions on the screen. There’s a little time-loop thing that really is more confusing than scary or entertaining, and as they start to fight with that hidden magic of good vibrations, it started to work on my last nerve. It’s the kind of movie where you start to hate everybody on screen. That means you don’t care what happens to them, and you just want this creaky amusement park ride to end. Eventually it does.
From the child’s name to several elements of the imaginary world, there are a ton of references to the Alice In Wonderland series of books. Now there is some classic storytelling. Perhaps there were too many writers here. There are three writers including director Jeff Wadlow. It might have been a too-many-cooks kind of failure. I’m not sure about that, but the film is an absolute failure.
There’s too much mysticism here, and I was really looking for a nice killer teddy bear. That’s what the trailers and the poster art promised, but there is no killer teddy bear. While that might have been trite and cliché, it still could have been a lot of fun to watch. Instead this feels more like a bad episode of Charmed, but it’s not in the least charming. Blumhouse knows how to do better than this. I’ve seen the evidence with my own eyes. I always thought Jason Blum had a good eye for talent and a good story. If Jeff Wadlow is his idea of good talent, I’m not going to be buying Blumhouse stock options any time soon. So that imaginary buddy of yours who tells you to check out this movie? “Well, he’s not imaginary, and he’s not your friend.”
