Meet Chauncey. He’s not imaginary. And he’s not your friend.
Imaginary is a 2024 horror movie produced by Blumhouse Productions and co-written and directed by Jeff Wadlow (Truth or Dare, The Curse Of Bridge Hollow). It stars DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, and Betty Buckley.
When a woman returns to her childhood home, she finds that her stepdaughter has taken a liking to the stuffed bear she left behind. But it soon becomes apparent that the bear is not only alive, but not happy about being left behind. The film released March 8, 2024.
Previews: Trailer 1
, Trailer 2
Imaginary contains examples of the following:
- Abusive Parents: Implied to be the case with Taylor and Alice's biological mom and the reason why their dad divorced her. She seems to be mentally unstable, and Jessica specifically mentions that she wasn't supposed to know where they were living. While in the Never-Ever, Alice is given an illusion of a stable, loving version of her mother to keep her at bay.
- Advertising by Association: The trailers boast that the film is from the producers of Five Nights At Freddy's and M3GAN.
- Bears Are Bad News: Chauncey the Teddy Bear is shown to have a negative influence on Alice, attacking people and encouraging her to hurt herself.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Gloria's whole goal was to find the source of Chauncey's whereabouts after spending her whole life devoted to the subject of imaginary friends and the world they inhabit. Just as she is raving about the endless possibilities of this new world, she is implied to be eaten by Chauncey.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Taylor spends the majority of the film being rude to Jessica since she still hasn't accepted her as her new stepmother. By the end, she comes to trust and respect Jessica
- Eldritch Abomination: "Chauncey" is a glamor hiding its true form, A spider that drives people insane by looking into their eyes, not unlike a classic Lovecraftian Great Old One.
- The End... Or Is It?: Jessica, Taylor, and Alice all seemingly defeat Chauncey, but as they try to check into a hotel, they each see a boy with a teddy bear and get spooked before they leave. The boy then talks to his mom about his imaginary friend, "Rufus", before a closer look at the bear reveals it's the same one used by the entity to lure in Alice.
- Foreshadowing: The opening scene has Jessica having a nightmare that she is being chased by a spider creature that took the form of her father Ben. The entity, or "Chauncey", later reveals its true form to be a similar-looking spider monster who can drive people mad by looking into their eyes.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: It is explained that looking an imaginary friend in the eyes will drive a person mad from exposure to the boundless imaginations that the entities draw on; Jessica's father lost his sanity while saving his daughter from the Never-Ever.
- Good Stepmother: Jessica is trying to be a good mother to Alice and Taylor despite the frostiness from the latter. She was even willing to sacrifice herself by staying in the Never-Ever if it meant protecting them from Chauncey, only to then learn she was the one Chauncey was always after.
- Heroic Sacrifice: A vision in the Never-Ever reveals to Jessica and Taylor that Jessica's father basically sacrificed his sanity saving five-year-old Jessica from the other realm, as he gazed too long at the spider-Chauncey before he could seal the door.
- Imaginary Friend: Gloria confirms that Chauncey is an imaginary friend… and that just because Jessica stopped believing in him, it doesn’t mean he went away.
- Kill It with Fire: Just as Chauncey was about to get his revenge on Jessica, Alice managed to set him aflame, as well as the house with it.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Early in the movie, Jessica is attacked by Taylor and Alice's birth mother. After the police and an ambulance arrive to take her away, Taylor breaks down as she explains to her father that she'd been texting her mom and told her their new address, having believed she was in a better state of mind.
- Precision F-Strike: After Jessica has to hurt Taylor's feelings to open the door to the Never Ever, she responds with "Fuck, that was brutal."
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Taylor gives one to Jessica after Alice goes missing, blaming her for upending their lives with her presence. Later, Jessica gives one to Taylor over the same reason but it's done as part of the ritual to open the door to the Never Ever, as it hurt both Taylor to hear it, and for Jessica to say it.
- Revenge: Chauncey had it out for Jessica ever since she abandoned him. In fact, the only reason he latched onto Alice, was so he could lure her back in the Never-Ever, so he could get his payback.
- Shout-Out:
- The protagonists' new home is located in Elm Street, Springwood.
- Hearing how they're facing an imaginary friend, Taylor compares the concept to Bing-Bong from Inside Out, incredulously observing "Bing-Bong is evil?"
- The eyes of the fake family in the Never-Ever are bulging, completely black and unmoving, similar to the button-eyes of the Other Parents in Coraline.
- Like in Coraline, the Big Bad's true form is that of a giant spider.
- Chauncey's true nature is similar to IT/Pennywise in terms of a shapeshifting interdimensional being capable of corrupting, eating, or driving people mad, whose true form resembles a giant spider.
- Spiders Are Scary: Chauncey's true form is that of a giant spider that wears a yellow shirt.
- Trailer Spoof: Played for Horror in this TV spot, which pretends to be a teaser for IF (2024), a more family-friendly imaginary friend-centric film released in the same year.
- Wham Shot: Jessica watches Dr. Soto's tape recording of her session with Alice to find that Chauncey's teddy bear form was never physically visible to anybody other than Jessica and Alice since they already believed in him.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- After leaving Jessica's new house for his new job, Max disappears for the rest of the movie, except in the final act that's come from Jessica's Red Herring.
- We never see Liam again after he gets out of Jessica's house.
