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Imaginary is a 2024 American supernatural horror film directed and produced by Jeff Wadlow and written by Wadlow, Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland. It is co-produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner and Tower of Babble. The film stars DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Matthew Sato, Veronica Falcón, and Betty Buckley.

Imaginary was released in the United States by Lionsgate on March 8, 2024, and received negative reviews from critics.

Plot[]

Jessica is a successful children's author who has married musician Max and is stepmother to his children Taylor and Alice. Although Alice is friendly to Jessica, Taylor has a tense relationship with her stepmother. Jessica is plagued by nightmares of a strange incident with her father Ben, who has since been institutionalized. The family move into Jessica's childhood home where Alice discovers a teddy bear in the basement whom she calls Chauncey. Alice quickly forms a bond with Chauncey and refuses to let the bear leave her side. Jessica encounters her childhood babysitter Gloria who reintroduces herself to Jessica, as Jessica can hardly remember her childhood in the house.

Alice and Taylor's mentally disturbed mother Samantha sneaks into the house one night to visit the girls and attacks Jessica. Police arrive and take her away and Taylor confesses she was contacting Samantha. Jessica puts Alice to bed and asks about the incident. Alice remarks that Chauncey knows Jessica would be okay since she had a friend like him growing up. Max leaves to go on tour while Alice becomes preoccupied with playing a scavenger hunt with Chauncey. Jessica leaves to visit Ben and tasks Taylor to babysit Alice. Taylor invites a local boy called Liam over who quickly causes a mess. As he tries to find a towel to clean it up, he is stalked by Chauncey who briefly transforms into a giant, monstrous bear, terrifying Liam. Jessica arrives and kicks Liam out, worsening her relationship with Taylor.

Chauncey's presence in the house begins to unnerve Jessica and she narrowly stops Alice from injuring herself while playing the scavenger hunt. Alarmed by her behavior and obsession with Chauncey, Jessica calls for psychologist Dr. Soto to speak to Alice. Soto is also confused by Alice's behavior and observes Alice talk to Chauncey and speak on his behalf, who makes threatening remarks about Jessica. While talking to Soto, Jessica discovers that only she and Alice can see the teddy bear. Soto shows Jessica footage of a child she once met who also had an imaginary friend before he went missing and used the same phrase that Alice spoke about; "Never Ever". Alice later disappears after speaking to Chauncey.

While out looking for Alice, Taylor encounters Gloria who invites her to her home and explains what happened to Jessica as a child. Chauncey was also Jessica's childhood imaginary friend. Gloria explains that imaginary friends tether to the young and can grow aggressive once left behind as Jessica did to Chauncey. Jessica goes through her old belongings and finds drawings of Chauncey and of a place called The Never Ever. Taylor and Gloria return and deduce to open the door to the Never Ever, they must complete the scavenger hunt. After collecting the items, a glowing door in the basement appears, leading to the Never Ever.

The Never Ever is a world controlled by children's imaginary friends. As the group searches for Alice, they find a door showing Jessica's childhood incident. Chauncey had attempted to take Jessica to the Never Ever and Ben had intervened. He rescued Jessica but looked into Chauncey's eyes driving him mad and Jessica left her home soon after. Gloria suddenly closes the door that would get the group out, revealing she has been obsessed with finding the Never Ever for years after being mocked for her research. Chauncey, now in his giant bear form, appears and mauls Gloria to death. Pursued by Chauncey, Jessica and Taylor rescue Alice and attempt to escape. Chauncey goes berserk as the group leave but Jessica stabs him in the eye and escapes to the real world where they reunite with Max and Ben.

Jessica realizes she is still stuck in the imaginary world and Chauncey had been using Alice as bait to get his real target, Jessica as revenge for abandoning him. Taylor arrives and saves Jessica, finally reconciling with her stepmother. Chauncey turns to his true form, a monstrous spider and tries to turn Jessica insane but Alice sets the creature on fire and seals him behind the door. The family escapes as the house burns to the ground. Later the family check into a hotel but are spooked by a child playing with his imaginary friend "Rufus" who is the very same Chauncey bear.

Cast[]

  • DeWanda Wise as Jessica, Max's wife, Taylor and Alice's stepmother
  • Pyper Braun as Alice, Max's younger daughter, Jessica's younger stepdaughter and Taylor's younger sister
  • Tom Payne as Max, Jessica's husband and Taylor and Alice's father, who is a musician
  • Betty Buckley as Gloria, Jessica's neighbor and former babysitter from her childhood
  • Taegen Burns as Taylor, Max's older daughter, Jessica's older stepdaughter and Alice's older sister
  • Matthew Sato as Liam, Taylor's friend and neighbor
  • Verónica Falcón as Dr. Alana Soto, a therapist
  • Dane DiLiegro as Chauncey Bear, the antagonist of the film and Jessica and Alice's imaginary friend
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