Film: Imaginary    
Cast: DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Veronica Falcón, Betty Buckley, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Dane DiLiegro, Alix Angelis
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Rating: 1.5/5
Runtime: 104 min.

“Imaginary” the latest horror-thriller from Blumhouse, directed by “Truth or Dare” producer Jeff Wadlow, fails to find the scares that it intended to. The plot is typical of the ‘voodoo cursed doll’ construct ( Chucky, Annabelle etc.) and uses the same old mechanics to charge up the atmosphere. But this ‘imaginary bear’ fails to inspire fear and the film becomes more exasperating than scary. 

Jessica (DeWanda Wise), a children’s book author and illustrator has a hard time bonding with her stepdaughters, the angry and angsty teen, Taylor (Taegen Burns), and the younger, more open, Alice (Pyper Braun). Jessica and her husband, Max (Tom Payne), move the family into her childhood home where Alice, troubled by the move, gives vein to an imaginary friend, Chauncey. The already fragile domestic situation becomes more brittle as a result. Alice’s bear keeps demanding increasingly alarming actions from Alice before finally taking her away on “a trip.”