Blumhouse Horror Flick fails to inspire

Piper Brown in “Fantasy.”

Parrish Lewis/Lionsgate

There’s a lot to unpack in Blumhouse’s new horror film, which seems designed to provide fodder for family therapy sessions across the country.

Newlywed Jessica (DeWanda Wise, Netflix she’s I must have it) deals with a father (Samuel Ratib) who has retreated into a semi-comatose state and resides in an assisted living facility after a traumatic event several years ago. Her husband is rock musician Max (Tom Payne, The prodigal son) She has an ex-wife who became addicted and insane and was hospitalized after harming one of her children. His teenage daughter Taylor (Teigen Burns) resents her new stepmother and behaves in a typical teenage manner, and his young daughter Alice (Piper Brown), bearing the scars of her mother’s attack, finds solace in her new best friend Chauncey, the Rat. The teddy bear I found in the closet. In this extended, turbulent clan, Bear seems to be the most adaptable, despite the fact that he has an annoying habit of showing up unexpectedly in strange places.

When Max has to leave the family to go on tour with his band, he decides the best thing is for Jessica and the kids to return to her childhood home. It’s supposedly the source of her happiest childhood memories, though it’s clear that Jessica, who writes a series of children’s books called “Molly Millepied” and suffers from recurring nightmares involving giant spiders, may have wanted a safer haven.

The new house is where Alice finds the bear, which at first glance seems harmless enough. Everyone keeps referring to her as Alice’s “imaginary friend”, just like the one Jessica herself had in the same house many years ago. Alice seems happily content with Chauncey, sitting with him at a tea party and playing hide and seek. But their close relationship becomes increasingly troublesome, especially when he gets her involved in a scavenger hunt that turns dangerous.

until this moment, imaginary It feels pretty ordinary for a low-budget horror effort, providing a moderate level of scares and some cheap jump scares to remind teens why they bought their tickets. But the film is directed by horror film veteran Jeff Wadlow (the truth, Fantasy Island) and co-written by him, Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland, derails the day in which a concerned Jessica brings in a pediatric therapist (Veronica Falcone) to talk to Alice and Chauncey. After her session with the little girl, the visibly disturbed psychiatrist asked, “Have you taken up any new hobbies lately? Ventriloquism?” Watch for the audience’s guffaws, which return shortly after when Jessica declares: “I have to destroy this bear!” And it’s too much no A line destined to join the horror pantheon of “I See Dead People” and “They’re Here!”

But wait, it gets better, although in order to avoid spoilers, not too many plot details will be revealed. Suffice it to say that Alice soon disappears, her imaginary friend is not so imaginary, and everyone ends up in an alternate dimension that looks like an M.C. Escher drawing and features various monsters including a very large man in a bear suit.

Then there’s the supporting character of Gloria, a creepy old woman who wanders the neighborhood all the time and seems desperate for conversation. It turns out that she is Jessica’s former babysitter and has inside knowledge of her past nightmarish experiences. She is also an author who specializes in the topic of imaginary friends, which comes in very handy when the group decides to offer a blessing to summon a spirit from another world. Nostalgia buffs will enjoy the fact that Gloria is played by Betty Buckley, who established the true horror stories many years ago in the original film. curry (And more recently in M. Night Shyamalan’s Divides). The veteran actress plays the role to the hilt, clearly relishing the opportunity to enjoy the kind of late-career renaissance in horror films with Hollywood legends like Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Olivia de Havilland.

imaginarywhich starts out as a relatively low-key thriller with interesting psychological depth, eventually succumbs to the banality that has plagued many recent horror efforts (such as The Killer Group in the Same Company Night swimming). It’s a shame because Wise gives a very strong performance as the beleaguered heroine and has good support from the younger players, stalking Braun as a desperate little girl searching for a friend, even if it’s in the form of a not-particularly likable teddy bear. You would have been better off with Ted.