Imaginary was released on March 8th, 2024, and directed by Jeff Willow. It was produced by Jason Blumb, making it a part of Blumhouse Productions, notorious for making horror films. It only had a budget of 11 million and could easily make more, getting around 19 million at the box office.
Imaginary is a horror film that brings a twist to the imagination of children. The main character Jessica, played by DeWanda Wise, goes back to her old childhood house with her family and stepdaughter. While at the house her stepdaughter Alice finds a teddy bear and begins to play with it. She treats it like an imaginary friend and plays games with it. However, those games slowly start to get worse and more sinister as time goes on. Eventually, Jessica has no other choice but to confront the teddy bear she once loved. Imaginary was not well received by audiences. It only had a 54% on rotten tomatoes audience score and a 25% on the Tomatometer. This is extremely low and most reviews are negative and straight up about what they do and don’t like about this movie. One review gave it a 2/5 saying the movie lacked imagination with its story and world making it overall worse. Another gave it a 1/4 saying it took a simplistic approach to everything and took it safe story-wise. While looking through the reviews I didn’t find any that even appreciated the movie in the slightest which was a first for me.
Overall, I would give it a 2/5 but I also have mixed feelings about it. I love the concept they were trying but I hate the way they executed it. I have always been a fan of horror whether it be games or movies but this movie didn’t deliver it to me. If they had taken more risks to make the story and atmosphere better then maybe I would love the movie but as it is, it’s not good. I will say I do love the way Blumhouse does their movies. It wasn’t CGI the entire time and most things felt real like I could tell and feel the textures. I wouldn’t normally recommend this movie but if you want to see why it isn’t liked, go ahead and watch it.
Website: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/imaginary
