There are many horror flicks with evil-infested dolls or puppets, but you keep hoping for something different. Alas, this "Imaginary" is as generic and predictable as they come: the little kid in a home with some complicated family-dynamics, the house with a creepy history, the cute doll (here a teddybear) that we at times (oh horror!!) see turn his head and that more and more gets a supernatural hold on the kid, and a climactic finale in which the evil finally shows its true terrifying shape. It's all there.
Well, even predictability doesn't have to be bad, if it's well done, with some decent special effects and a solid story. But unfortunately all this was not the case here. The story is shaky and unnecessary complicated, and direction and editing are disappointing: the whole movie is way too talkative and explanatory (especially from the moment the old neighbor lady steps in), and for a supposed horror movie it's way too low on serious scares. Teddybear Chauncey is definitely no Chucky or Annabelle, until the final showdown he doesn't cause any deaths or destruction, even the obnoxious boyfriend (in most horror movies a number one candidate for a gruesome killing) got away in one piece. There's an inventive plot-twist halfway in time, and the supernatural Escher-like labyrinth, in which the family in the end gets trapped to fight the evil, is well done, but that couldn't save the movie. A pity, since the acting was pretty good. The cast had earned a better vehicle to ride in.
