Imaginary | Naughty doggie! | The Press

Shortly after moving into her childhood home, a woman discovers that her stepdaughter is under the influence of a teddy bear.

Since the arrival of Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2) in the Blumhouse stable, the horror film production house, to which we owe in particular the excellent Get Out And Us, by Jordan Peele, saw the quality of his films take a nosedive. And it’s not with Imaginary (Imaginaryin French version), his new offering steeped in clichés specific to the genre, which the director of Truth or consequence, Fantasy Island And Bloodshot will raise the level.

After The evil spirit of Halloweenwhere a little girl released an evil spirit who brought Halloween decorations to life, Jeff Wadlow, flanked by Greg Erb and Jason Orenlamb, screenwriters of The princess and the Frog, revisits the world of childhood. More particularly childhood trauma and its repercussions in adulthood.

Children’s book illustrator Jessica (DeWanda Wise) believes she can put an end to her nightmares by moving into her childhood home with her partner Max (Tom Payne) and her stepdaughters, Taylor (Taegen Burns) and Alice (Pyper Braun). ). While Alice becomes infatuated with a teddy bear found in the basement, Jessica reconnects with her former guardian, Gloria (Betty Buckley), of whom she has no memories. Under the influence of the teddy bear Chauncey, Alice adopts increasingly strange behavior.

Moving to a strange house, secret rooms, toy animated by an evil entity, teenager at loggerheads with her stepmother, innocent little girl, father not very present, old lady keen on pseudoscientific or psychoanalytic knowledge: Wadlow mechanically checked all the boxes of the specifications. Grappling through the classics of the genre,Amityville: The Devil’s House has Poltergeist: Revenge of the GhostsPassing by Annabelle and its derivatives, the director equals none.

At most he will have been able to create a parallel universe where the worst nightmares of the characters are brought to life with a certain know-how. However, the latter pales in comparison to the Upside Down series. Stranger Things of the Duffer brothers. Worse still, apart from a few shock effects, Imaginary doesn’t even manage to scare. In fact, what causes the jitters is the promise of a sequel, or even a franchise, at the very last shot.

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horror drama

Imaginary (V. F.: Imaginary)

Jeff Wadlow

DeWanda Wise, Pyper Braun, Betty Buckley

1:44 a.m.

4/10