Review of Imaginary

Imaginary: The whole is less than the sum of its parts in this interesting film. We have a little girl, Alice, with an imaginary friend who appears after she moves with her stepmother Jessica to the house where Jessica was raised until age 5. Jessica also had an imaginary friend there! Alice's mother Samantha escapes from a psychiatric hospital and attacks Jessica (couldn't they have kept her in the attic ala Mrs Rochester?). The father Max is a rock musician, away a lot of the time and there's also a teenage sister Taylor who is at odds with Jessica. Lets not forget the strange old lady who hangs around outside the house. Then there's Jessica's father Ben who is also mentally disturbed, he caused or negligently allowed Jessica to be injured at age 5, just as Samantha did with Alice! A lot of coincidences here! The Imaginary friend is Chauncey, a terrible teddy bear, Alice threatens those who annoy her that Chauncey will eat them. There are rituals, doorways into other realms and even explanations for an Urban Legend. All of this doesn't fit together too well though. The film needs to be restructured, scenes and sequences moved around. Some scenes are unintentionally funny, this is more due to timing though as there are a few good jump scares. There is also a reveal regarding Chauncey. Directed by Jeff Wadlow, Written by Wadlow, Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland. 6/10.