Film Review

Imaginary (2024) — unimaginative, but not unbearable

A woman returns to her childhood home to discover that the imaginary friend she left behind is very real and unhappy that she abandoned him.

Everyone had an imaginary friend. These friends would console you when you were sad, play with you when you were lonely, and give you advice when you were stuck in a quandary. But did you know that imaginary friends are actually said to be demonic entities from another dimension, feeding off the creativity of your childhood mind? Yeah, me neither…

Jessica (DeWanda Wise) moves back to her old home with her new family: her beloved husband, Max (Tom Payne), and her two stepdaughters, Alice (Pyper Braun) and Taylor (Taegen Burns). However, when Jessica discovers that Alice is playing with Chauncey, the same stuffed bear she had as a child, troubling aspects of her past resurface. Now, the things she wanted to forget have come back to haunt her — literally.

Imaginary isn’t as bad as some of Blumhouse Productions’ recent offerings. In fact, there are moments when it’s…