A film with a teddy bear at the center of the movie may make the audience think that the bear is going to come to life. Surprisingly, the bear in remains calm and silent in Imaginary, a thriller where the terror can be hard to find. Directed by Jeff Wadlow, Imaginary is one of the most authentic thriller films I have seen. Not exactly excellent, but high quality and, again, authentic.

Imaginary begins with Jessica (played by DeWanda Wise), a woman who grew up with a harsh life of abuse and hardship. She is married to Max (played by Tom Payne), and she is a stepmom to Tom’s daughters, Taylor (played by Taegen Burns) and Alice (played by Pyper Braun). When Jessica moves with her family into her childhood home, Alice’s mood start to shift. Alice has an imaginary friend named Chauncey. At first Jessica believes it’s a phase—until more evil begins to emerge in the most unexpected realms throughout the childhood home.

There is a background of conflict that mingles throughout Imaginary—a mother with a harsh childhood, a father who is divorced, a daughter who is a typical teenager and another daughter with a detrimental imaginary friend. The audience will at first believe that the film is a typical horror film where a spirit makes a child evil, but the terror in Imaginary backfires in unpredictable ways, and it tends to pop up like an old-fashioned wolf man monster. The film is more of a puzzle than anything else, and there seems to be a lot of over-thinking in the writing and execution. The film is just not written to leave the audience feeling scared after. Rather, it leaves them curious. What in Jessica’s past is related so much to the teddy bear? What are those weird moving parts in Jessica childhood home?

I found Imaginary to be not extremely well written, but it has a niche in the horror genre. It has a spiritual type of terror that is hidden in a teddy bear. It also seemed to create a maze of sorts that grows with tainted memories. Karma and misdirection find itself combined in this film, and that is what sold me the most with Imaginary. But instead of a revenge teddy bear, which we expect after the teddy bear is introduced, it heads down the track of almost a terror Tetris. The questions and theories keep evolving. And instead of scary terror, it’s more about experimenting and investigating the spirits that are flowing. The film begs the question of who will find the answers to the terror? Find out in Imaginary. Three out of four stars.