By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
Blumhouse Productions is seemingly trying to corner the market for inanimate objects being possessed to terrorize the living, but the only market they’re cornering is the painfully bad horror film market. “Imaginary” follows the footsteps of “Five Nights at Freddy’s” as a child’s fantasy turned nightmare that fails to frighten, much less entertain. Once again, a poor director with a bad script and an even worse cast bleeds creativity and imagination dry.
An artist renowned for her imaginative illustrations, Jessica (DeWanda Wise) returns to her childhood home with her husband Max (Tom Payne) and stepdaughters Taylor (Taegen Burns) and Alice (Pyper Braun). Jessica may have forgotten her traumatic childhood, but it hasn’t forgotten her. When Alice develops an imaginary friend in the form of a teddy bear, paranormal type occurrences begin to happen in the old house.
What Alice doesn’t know is that the not so cuddly teddy bear is looking to finish what it started with Jessica when she was young. As Jessica comes face to face with her past, unlocking those repressed memories, she must figure out a way to keep her new family safe from this malevolent force, even if that takes her to a realm that looks eerily similar to the penultimate scene of “Labyrinth,” complete with upside down staircases and an evil looking version of Ludo. All that’s missing is the late great David Bowie in tight pants singing a catchy little ditty.
After the dismal failure of “Fantasy Island” in 2020, it was hoped that director Jeff Wadlow would stay away from the horror genre. Unfortunately, audiences get treated to “Imaginary” instead, another display of what not to do to create a decent horror flick. All of the gimmicks Wadlow employs to generate suspense, fear, and jump scares are completely ineffective. The cinematography, sound, and score lack imagination, making everything seem forced and predictable. Even the monster reveal looked like a reject Jim Henson muppet, which resulted in abject laughter from the audience.
Poorly written dialogue destroys any chance this underwhelming cast had of shining. DeWanda Wise, who previously had a supporting role in “Jurassic World Dominion,” gets her shot as the lead and misfires badly. She struggles with simple tasks such as displaying believable fear, and her inability to connect in any meaningful way with the two younger actresses, whom she has most of her scenes with, leaves her performance robotic and disingenuous. It doesn’t help that her co-star Tom Payne, of “The Walking Dead” fame, could not muster any believable on-screen chemistry as her husband. While Payne does supply a valiant effort to make his cringey lines seem almost natural, he was unable to even foster credibility as the children’s father.
One may think that adding a legend of Broadway like Betty Buckley to the cast would help negate some of the poor performances, but they would be wrong. Buckley is also completely out of place in her small yet critical role as the bridge to the main character’s past. She literally pops up out of nowhere at convenient times, inserting herself in the story as if she’s been there the whole time, and gives the other characters the missing information to connect the dots. This is more a testament to Wadlow’s lazy direction using her in such an obvious way than it is a reflection of her talent.
Verónica Falcón is the one bright spot of an otherwise dreadful film. She has had memorable performances as a ruthless cartel matron in TV series such as “Ozark” and “Queen of the South.” Unlike the rest of the cast, Falcón has screen presence and uses that to electrify the very few scenes she’s in as the child psychiatrist. She singlehandedly creates suspense and foreboding with her intense line delivery. It’s just a shame it was wasted on a film like this.
Toss this grungy old teddy bear where it belongs, in the donation bin. “Imaginary” is a pure waste of time and money. As a message to Blumhouse Productions, the laughter you’re hearing is at you, not with you. Instead of watching this drivel, go see “Dune: Part Two” for a second or third time, you’ll have a much more satisfying experience.
This movie earns:
