“Imaginary”, the new Blumhouse production, is released this week in cinemas. You’ll never see your children’s imaginary friends the same way again… Discover the director’s references for this horror film.
Ten years after Kick-Ass 2, director Jeff Wadlow – also at work on the horror films Truth or Dare and Nightmare Island – returns with Imaginary, the new production from the Blumhouse studio.
In this feature film which combines an imaginary friend and a retelling of Alice in Wonderland, Jessica returns to her childhood home with her family. Her youngest stepdaughter Alice develops a strange attachment to a teddy bear named Chauncey that she found in the basement of the house. It all starts with innocent games, but Alice’s behavior becomes more and more disturbing. Jessica then understands that Chauncey is much more than just a toy…
Where have you seen the actors before?
The film is led by DeWanda Wise, and if her face rings a bell, that’s normal since she played pilot Kayla Watts in Jurassic World: The Next World. The American actress is also the headliner of the Netflix series Nola Darling does as she pleases. Here she plays Jessica, the stepmother of young Alice and Taylor. Returning to her childhood home, she finds herself confronted, despite herself, with a part of her past that she had completely forgotten.
Metropolitan FilmExport ByWanda Wise
Fans of the series The Walking Dead will have recognized the British comedian Tom Payne, aka Jesus in seasons 7 to 9 of the zombie series. The latter plays here the role of Max, Jessica’s musician husband and father of the little girls.
The actress Betty Buckley, already seen in the series Eight is Enough, Oz or New York Special Unit in which she plays Lorraine Maxwell and the M. Night Shyamalan film Split lends her features to Gloria, Jessica’s former nanny. It is she who will help the young woman to remember her past.
The girls are played by Pyper Braun (10 years old) and Taegen Burns, whose resemblance to Emma Stone is sometimes uncanny. The 16-year-old girl has already appeared in the series The Stuff of Heroes in the role of Laura and in Little Champions.
When M3GAN meets TED
In Imaginaryyoung Alice finds comfort thanks to an old bear found in the basement of her new house, but very quickly it isolates the little girl and asks her to do dangerous things.
Like M3GAN, already produced by Blumhouse, the film sees a lonely little girl befriend a particular toy: here a teddy bear named Chauncey. Director Jeff Wadlow explains in the press release: “I like making films that play with the audience’s perception of what’s real and what’s not, so a horror film that explores the frightening possibilities of imaginary friends was the perfect fit for me. perfect sandbox for playing.”
Metropolitan FilmExport
Imaginary
Imaginary therefore comes at the right time after Jason Blum’s latest productions: M3GAN, and the adaptation of the video game Five Nights at Freddy’s in which a pizzeria guard must survive among bear, duck and rabbit animatronics.
The studio created in 2000 and which has already produced more than 120 feature films, therefore seems to be taking toys and diverting them for horrific purposes.
When Alice in Wonderland meets Poltergeist
But the feature film also references Lewis Carroll’s tale, “Alice in Wonderland“. Young Alice is in fact drawn into the world of her “friend”, where her imagination comes to life. Instead of following the white rabbit, the little girl follows the brown bear…
Another reference claimed by the director: Poltergeist. In an interview with the magazine SFXJeff Wadlow, indeed affirms that Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist (1982) greatly influenced his Imaginary and the teaser poster for his film.
Blumhouse
Imaginary
“The first Poltergeist was a major reference for us. It perfectly balances moments of pure scares with the sense of wonder and emotion you feel when you have a family you care about.
We tried to create a modern version
We tried to do a modern version of this with our film in which the terror comes from this unknown presence that has infected the security of the family home. We also tried to lean into the “Spielbergian” aspects of that. What if that thing you always imagined was actually real? What would be the consequences? We try to explore that with a modern sensibility.“
Prohibited for children under 12 years old, Imaginary can be seen in cinemas this Wednesday, March 6.