On March 8, “Imaginary”, the horror film about the dangers of imaginary friends, was released in theaters.

The movie features a family of four: Jessica (DeWanda Wise), her new husband Max (Tom Payne), and her stepdaughters, Taylor (Taegen Burns) and Alice (Pyper Braun).

The film opens with a nightmarish scene in the mind of Jessica as she is attacked by a strange monster in a blue-hue scene. She wakes up with a fright next to her husband in their bed at their apartment. He reassures her that they’ll be fine and that they’re moving back to ‘the house’ soon.

As the tense family—with Taylor and Jessica nearly at each other’s throats—move into the new house, aka Jessica’s childhood home, Alice finds a stuffed bear that she lovingly names Chauncey. Chauncey is Alice’s best friend, teased by Taylor as her ‘little imaginary friend’, and she has a great time with him as the family of four settle in. But soon enough, it is revealed that things are not as it seems with both Chauncey and the house. When Alice begins acting out of character and Chauncey seems to blame, Jessica and Taylor must fight to save her while Max is out of town.

The film featured many jump-scares, but not too much actual gore. As viewers watched the film, they could be seen jumping in their seats, with popcorn flying and screams erupting.

While the storyline got a bit dicey at the end, for the most part it was interesting and engaging. The plot twists kept everyone on their toes and allowed for the plot to develop and build up to the eventual tipping point.

The acting was a bit questionable at times, with the film almost appearing as a satire piece when some actors were on screen.

Overall, the movie was decent, but not Oscar-worthy. It provided the opportunity for a light scaring but nothing too Earth-shattering.