Look beyond the plethora of allusions, and you’ll see a film that’s happily engaging with the genre while still maintaining a solid core of real dread so that it’s not all empty calories.

| Aug 8, 2024

Not a total catastrophe, but perilously close to being one. Is it too obvious to say Imaginary is simply lacking in imagination?

| Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 12, 2024

While a bit unwieldy, Imaginary is a playfully deranged movie that's sure to be a hit at slumber parties. But grown-ups can enjoy its spirited scares, too.

| Mar 10, 2024

It suffers from the plague of overly convoluted plots that are executed by overly simplistic means: flat expositional dialogue, car commercial visual style, and a seemingly first draft creative concept that never irons out the wrinkles.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 9, 2024

If you’re a true horror fan, this film is not your friend.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 8, 2024

If you can withstand some of the goofier moments... “Imaginary” might serve as a reasonably effective fright flick during a slow week.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 8, 2024

None of this makes much of an impact given how poorly sketched the characters are, and how little there is to distinguish the film from hundreds of other horror movies that come out every year.

| Original Score: C | Mar 8, 2024

Whether it’s the watered-down scares or the terrible performances – no one likes making fun of children, but Braun needs to leave acting to the stage-parented professionals – Imaginary’s myriad faults are all too real.

| Mar 8, 2024

I’d bet if you tasked any child with a rewrite on this script (credited to director Jeff Wadlow, Greg Erb and Jason Oremland), you’d likely come up with something way more colorful, fun and freaky than the zipless cafeteria food ladled onto our laps.

| Mar 8, 2024

Imaginary, which starts out as a relatively low-key suspenser with intriguing psychological depth, eventually succumbs to the inanities plaguing so many recent horror efforts.

| Mar 8, 2024

“Imaginary,” despite a few creepy moments, is starved for scenes that make the fear it’s showing you relatable.

| Mar 8, 2024

The latest in the Blumhouse catalog of reliably creepy horror movies whose fans typically expect well-executed jump scares, fun plot twists and the occasional rubbery monster.

| Mar 8, 2024

It’s yet another sub-par day at the Blumhouse factory, production line operating at full, breakneck speed, yet machinery on the perilous verge of total collapse.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Mar 8, 2024

A lifeless hodgepodge of the hoariest clichés the genre has to offer.

| Mar 8, 2024

Despite the dialogue constantly reinforcing the boundless creativity of its heroine, Imaginary is rather low on imagination of its own, instead opting to chart a safe course filled with familiar tropes and horror clichés.

| Original Score: 1.5/5 | Mar 8, 2024

The film never thinks to lean into the blatant silliness that its premise invites.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Mar 8, 2024