Rebecca is an author and illustrator of children’s books lacking inspiration. His personal life is not going much better than his professional life. In a relationship with Max, Rebecca is now the stepmother of Taylor, who hates her, and of Alice, who at least likes her. Added to this is a hospitalized and catatonic father. However, when the blended family moves into the house where Rebecca grew up, little Alice becomes completely consumed by a mysterious teddy bear. As she pieces together the forgotten fragments of her own childhood, Rebecca understands that Alice is in grave danger. In Imaginary (Imaginary), Jeff Wadlow enjoys subverting the harmless figure of the imaginary friend.
As the director and co-writer explained to us in an interview last week, the film fits into the horror subgenre of the evil toy, as before it Child’s Play (Child’s play) and its sequels, Annabelle and his own, or even M3GAN And Five Nights at Freddy’s (Five Nights at Freddy’s): two Blumhouse productions, like this film.
The goal is to make an object sinister that is normally intended to be reassuring for its young owner.
On this front, Imaginary skillfully uses the conventions of the subgenre in question, from adults initially unaware of the actions of the toy, to the dire nature of the designs nourished by this monster which hides in broad daylight. In this regard, the film has an ingenious late revelation, perfectly in line with the notion of an imaginary friend.
In the meantime, however, the construction sometimes leaves something to be desired. In that several elements are introduced and then left in suspense, such as the biological mother of the two girls, who only serves to provoke a start, and the elderly neighbor, who is part of the narrative function more than the character, and who does not is there only to clarify information.
Obvious influences
On the other hand, the family unit is well developed, and above all very well interpreted, first and foremost by DeWanda Wise (the series version of She’s Gotta Have It, by Spike Lee), as an overwhelmed but determined heroine. The ultimate union between this kind mother-in-law (it’s refreshing) and her daughters-in-law gives rise to a breathtaking final confrontation… if not really terrifying.
The main problem ofImaginary lies in the evidence of its influences. Like Rebecca who remembers, horror-loving moviegoers will see images from the films arise in their minds A Nightmare on Elm Street (The claws of the night), Beetlejuice (Betelgeuse) And Coraline. So many productions having created memorable nightmarish parallel universes, and which Jeff Wadlow “quotes” visually.
Imaginary is well done, quite effective, but doesn’t play in those leagues. Too bad, because with this concept, this protagonist and several of the ideas presented, the result could have been much more original and frightening. All that would have been enough for this was a little extra, yes, imagination.