Horror factory Blumhouse churns out another genre flick helmed by Jeff Wadlow – the director behind Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island – with Imaginary. Unfortunately, Imaginary feels like a faulty product that eluded the quality test as its wonky execution and underwhelming horror result in a disappointing experience for genre fans.

The film follows Jessica (DeWanda Wise) – a successful children’s author who moves back into her childhood home with her husband Max (Tom Payne) and stepchildren Alice (Pyper Braun) and Taylor (Taegen Burns). Although this move unearths traumatic parts of Jessica’s upbringing, she’s hopeful that the transition will strengthen her work and relationship with Alice and Taylor. For Alice though, this new environment sees her gain an imaginary friend named Chauncey – who is represented through an adorable Teddy bear. While their relationship seems sweet at first, Chauncey becomes a sinister influence on Alice. Now, Jessica must save Alice from Chauncey’s dark power before she’s transported to his twisted world.

Given the potential that Imaginary boasts from its basic idea, it should’ve been another slam dunk horror hit for Blumhouse. It features an aesthetically pleasing horror antagonist in Chauncey who has all the makings of a crowd-favorite character in Blumhouse’s growing villain roster. The premise has tons of Child’s Play vibes yet evolves the concept through Jessica also sharing a connection to Chauncey and there being this haunting world for imaginary friends. Plus, despite Wadlow’s awful track record of making subpar films, Imaginary presented an opportunity for him to make something fun. Sadly though, Imaginary is undermined by its, well, lack of imagination.

Despite Chauncey’s fun potential, he’s a remarkably boring character. Generally, he just sits there and barely expresses a meaningful personality through slight facial expressions. The attempts to make him creepy through sudden appearances and minor movements pitifully reflect lazy sequences we’ve seen in films like Child’s Play and The Boy. Frankly, the only cool things about Chauncey come from some neat twists that come halfway through the film and this amazing demonic form he has. Seriously, the design of Chauncey’s demon form is awesome – even if it’s under-utilized – and might be the scariest aspect of Imaginary. Yet, it’s not enough to make Chauncey special and instead he represents the poor way this concept of evil imaginary friends is conceived.

Of the imaginary friends we do see, there are some eye-catching and unsettling designs that do stand out. But woefully, you can count them on one hand – which is a shame because the film showcases a whole other world where imaginary friends reside. Yet, when Jessica and others enter the world, it’s filled with doors that have no interesting destinations rather than chilling creatures. For a world that should offer a limitless supply of creative horror options, Imaginary is held back in the worst ways possible. Without a strong sense of imaginative horror, Wadlow falls back on tiresome scare setups that go nowhere. He constantly sticks horrifying figures in the shadows and background, but rarely follows it up with an impactful scare. So, there’s plenty of light tension and suspense-building but no satisfying punch.

With nothing working on the horror side, Imaginary is completely tame and a baffling blunder for Blumhouse – who can usually provide some decent scares at the very least. The story and characters aren’t any better unfortunately as they equally come off confusing, undercooked, and genuinely bizarre. The whole story with Jessica battling her past doesn’t maintain its intrigue as the film takes too long to get answers from and can’t provide enough good moments to stay invested. Frankly, even when answers are given, they aren’t all that satisfying. The “lore” that’s provided is terribly thin and delivered by Jessica’s former babysitter Gloria (Betty Buckley) – who is impossible to enjoy. She’s weird for the sake of being weird and only exists to make the finale tougher for Jessica.

The pacing of the story is choppy, and the film struggles to balance Jessica dealing with her past and Chauncey’s influence on Alice. The two storylines don’t work alongside each other that well and ultimately make for a bloated experience. Not to mention, it’s hard to stay engaged with either one because there’s such awful line delivery with every character and awkward interactions that totally take you out of the moment. It basically all results in a narrative that rarely keeps your attention and characters you never end up caring about. Not to mention, this film has one of the worst false endings you’ll see and pacing that makes what comes after the fake conclusion feel like unnecessary plot extension.

Imaginary is exactly what audiences don’t want from Blumhouse – a scarless horror film that wastes its potential and the time of its viewers. Despite a couple flashes of terror, Imaginary lacks the vision or intrigue needed to really bring something fresh to the genre and ultimately underwhelms at every turn.

Watch the Trailer Here: