Blumhouse, the genre-shaping banner behind recent hits Five Nights at Freddy’s and M3GAN, and Lionsgate Movies are all set to unleash Jeff Wadlow‘s (Cry Wolf, Truth or Dare) original horror film Imaginary into cinemas this Friday, March 8.
Exploring the innocence of imaginary friends – and raising the question as to whether or not they really are figments of childhood imagination, the film, which Wadlow co-wrote with Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, centres on Jessica (DeWanda Wise) who, when she moves back into her childhood home with her family, her youngest stepdaughter Alice (Pyper Braun) develops an eerie attachment to a stuffed bear named Chauncey she finds in the basement. Alice starts playing games with Chauncey that begin playful and become increasingly sinister. As Alice’s behaviour becomes more and more concerning, Jessica intervenes only to realise Chauncey is much more than the stuffed toy bear she believed him to be.
In anticipation of Imaginary releasing in cinemas this Friday, we sat down with Wadlow, who opened up about the inspiration behind this creepy toy movie and how he found a way to give the old formula a new twist. He also went on to explain how Imaginary uses horror to raise mental health awareness in a truly unique way.
Words: Howard Gorman
