Imaginary (2024)-- Ending Explained with spoilers

 

Plot: Jessica returns to her childhood home and discovers that her stepdaughter has the same imaginary friend as her when she was a kid. The imaginary friend, Chauncy, isn’t too happy that it was abandoned by her. 

Blumhouse’s latest offering IMAGINARY isn’t as imaginative as it could have been. 

Considering the premise is on imaginary friends, the result should have been a chilling story with plenty of fright-inducing scenes. Instead, what we get is a jumble of horror tropes and a very predictable storyline. 

There are no surprises here and the scares simply don’t work. Every plot point is so conveniently resolved that you may wonder if you are watching a Disney movie rather than a horror movie. 

IMAGINARY is yet another “safe” horror movie from Blumhouse. After Five Nights at Freddy’s and Night Swim, this movie follows the recent trend from the production house where the scares are tame and the story is told in a very gentle manner rather than the spirited tone the movies always had. 

Should we accept that horror stories will no longer be scary anymore?

Anyway, here is what happened in Imaginary. 

IMAGINARY Movie Plot

The movie opens with Jessica roaming about a house at night and hearing strange voices. She then sees a spider monster and her father, Ben, with glazed eyes warning her. 

She wakes up. It was all a nightmare. Her husband Max takes all her nightmares in a very casual manner. He doesn’t have much to worry about anyway since he won’t be there for the part in the movie when things go crazy.

The camera cuts to boxes of Jessica’s children books about Molli Millipede and a spider so that we can learn that not only is she an illustrator, but also moving to a new house. And in case, you still don’t get it, Max spells this out very plainly and suggests that they move into Jessica’s childhood home before the walls are painted. 

Just a thought, it does seem that the filmmakers have begun to underestimate the intelligence of its audience or their capacity to tolerate scary scenes. 

In two minutes it is established that Jessica is now stepmother to fifteen year old Taylor, and her younger sister Alice. Oh, and the ex-wife Samantha has been stalking them and also in an asylum. She’s obviously going to make an appearance later in the movie, right?

Soon enough, the family moves into the new house. Taylor is at her bratty best and against Jessica because she is too nice to her. Like any teenager nowadays, she communicates via text messages. Alice is in her sweet girl phase and loves Jessica too much. 

As soon as Jessica enters the house, the wall on her left has her height measurements until she was five. Upstairs, she has scribbled all over the walls of a bedroom. Jessica’s grandmother clearly didn’t mind and even encouraged her to ruin the house walls. 

Alice likes the walls being used like a colouring sheet and wants to keep it as is. Jessica quickly agrees because that would save a lot of money if they forgo the paintjob. 

Taylor takes a jab at Jessica for being too desperate to fit in by calling Alice Ali-Cat, and walks away. Jessica acts dramatically exhausted in front of Max so that he can see how hard she is trying as a stepmother to his bratty teenage daughter. Max is impressed. 

Later, Jessica is trying to work but can’t come up with any ideas to draw. Alice suggests she take a break and play hide and seek with her. Jessica agrees but then without informing Alice, walks out of the house to take a work call. 

Unsupervised, Alice does what any young girl does in a horror movie…gets into trouble. She is led to a teddy bear that she picks up and immediately wants to play with. 

Jessica returns and apologizes to Alice but the young girl pretty much slams the door on her face. 

Taylor is busy seeing creepy old women standing on her driveway and befriending her neighbor Liam who openly flirts with her and offers to take her to a pub where no one asks for IDs. Jessica immediately comes in and reminds Liam that Taylor is way too young for him. 

Taylor behaves like the embarrassed teenager and sends Jessica text while in the same space as her. Jessica learns that Taylor isn’t too happy with her for embarrassing her in front of her potential boyfriend. 

Jessica and Max find it cute that Alice is busy with her imaginary friend. At night, Alice tells her parents that she is playing hide and seek with her friend. They let her hide in their bed and turn off the lights. Jessica thinks she hears sounds. Alice tells her that it is the sound Chauncy makes because he is always hungry. Jessica is a bit creeped out but sees nothing else. But we do get to see a teddy bear under the bed. Since the teddy is kind of cute the scene doesn’t send shivers up your spine. 

In the morning, Jessica wakes up and rejoices an end to her nightmares. Max thinks the relocation worked. She later eavesdrops on Alice reading a book to Chauncy. Jessica is initially happy that Alice is reading a book she illustrated and also that Chauncy is helping her understand that the spider is afraid of losing Mollie which is why it keeps chasing her around the corridors. 

Jessica, now in her happy place, finds the inspiration to continue work on her new book. Alice comes to her later with a scavenger list that she hides from her stepmother. She wants something happy so Jessica hands her a ball and draws a smiley face on it. Later, she hears sounds and goes to the basement to find a ball with a frowny face on it. The box near it has Jessica’s old things in it and she finds a drawing of a blue door with the words NEVER EVER written on it. 

Jessica continues to creep up on Alice and find out what she is doing. Alice is having a tea party and complimenting someone on their dress. Jessica freaks out when she hears another voice. It’s Samantha and she greets her ex-husband’s new wife by lunging at her. Taylor comes and pulls her away. The police are called and Samantha is strapped and taken away back to the mental instituition. Taylor apologizes to Max, saying that she was the one who texted her mother but thought she was doing better. 

Jessica checks up on Alice and they both bond over the scars they have on their arms. Later, Jessica and Max talk about how nice it is to have Chauncy and Alice play with each other. They think that the other voice is Alice’s as well. But as we learn later, it is the Imaginary friend’s voice which for some reason everyone else can hear. 

The next day, Max is going off for work purposes. His role in the movie is pretty much over and we get a glimpse of him somewhere in the climax. 

Jessica is elated that Max is leaving because now she will have the house to herself as well as a chance to bond with her stepdaughters. 

But before the bonding time can begin, their next door neighbor Gloria pops in. She remarks that she knows Jessica from childhood as she used to babysit her. She tells her about her strong imagination. Jessica immediately wants to hand out the signed copies of her books but Gloria tells her that she doesn’t have any kids. 

Jessica is no longer interested in talking to Gloria considering she cannot make a sale. Alice calls her and asks her for food. Jessica is still talking to her and so Gloria tells Alice to go away. Taylor comes in next and reminds Jessica she needs to cook lunch for them. 

Bored of her touchy-feely neighbor, Jessica excuses herself. We don’t get to see Jessica make them lunch but we do get to see her escape the minute she finds a chance. Okay, there were brownies made at some point. 

She goes to see her father at the assisted living and he barely even looks at her. She tries to jog his memory but he pretty much tells her to get out since she didn’t bring him any dinner. 

At home, Alice is busy with Chauncy while Taylor invites Liam over. But Liam turns out to be a tool who tries to give Taylor illegal substances as well as get her drunk. He ends up breaking Max’s liquor bottles and Taylor screams at him to get towels. 

Upstairs, Liam encounters Chauncy who tries to trick him. Alice doesn’t like him and so Chauncy also helps her get rid of him. He hides under a towel and Liam freaks out when he finds a string attached to it. As the covered bear approaches him, Liam gets a glimpse of the monstrous imaginary friend. 

When Jessica returns, Liam’s mother is also called and it turns out that he had brought his mother’s allergy medicine instead. He is in so much trouble with his mother. 

After he leaves, Taylor apologizes profusely and when Jessica goes into her room and sees her drawings cut out, she suspects Alice. 

She goes to speak to Alice in her room, suspecting her new scavenger list had something to do with her behavior. She takes a photo of the list on a hunch. As she is talking to Chauncy, she notices a sound outside and sees Alice ripping out a board from the fence. Just as she is about to slam her hand on the nail to hurt herself as per the scavenger list, Jessica arrives just in time, but not quick enough that Alice doesn’t get a scratch. 

Jessica complains to Max at night about how she is finding it hard to control her stepdaughters. It has literally not even been a day and Jessica has found herself complaining to her husband about his daughters. 

The next morning, Jessica calls a therapist who speaks to Alice about her imaginary friends. Alice starts to cry and the therapist, who still thinks that Alice has been making two voices, is shocked to find that someone else is speaking to her. 

She questions Jessica about whether Alice knows ventriloquism, but clearly she does not. She then tells Jessica about kids who become overly attached to their imaginary friends and start to self-harm. 

There are kids who use the term ‘never-ever’ and Jessica remembers her drawing. 

She shows it to the therapist who suspects that Alice may be feeling Jessica’s tension. She talks about the bear but the therapist doesn’t remember seeing a teddy. Jessica freaks out when she realizes she is the only one who can see the bear but suspects Alice may be seeing it too. 

Jessica searches her childhood drawings and finds that she has been making drawings of the bear. On the wall, she finds a scavenger list too and the words See Bee, something her father has been saying. 

She now understands that she has been friends with Chauncy the bear sicne she was a kid and has been misspelling his name as See Bee instead of CB. 

Alice is once again lured by Chauncy and she enters through the blue door. Jessica finally realizes that Alice has gone missing. Taylor also goes in search of her after blaming her stepmother for this, and comes out in front of Liam’s house. He quickly shuts the window. He wants nothing to do with her anymore. 

Gloria takes Taylor in and tells her about imaginary friends and how they can be real. And also that Jessica abandoned her imaginary friend and it felt so dejected that it decided to wait in that house and then go after a young girl. 

So there we have it: the stereotypical characters. The young girl who always befriends the ghost/monster in the new house, the bratty teenager, the elderly character who always explains everything and knows everything but who is also regarded as a loony by others. 

Back to the movie, Taylor rushes over to tell Jessica that she believes her. Gloria comes in and offers her assistance as well. They decide that the only way to open the blue door is by completing the scavenger hunt. 

Jessica luckily took a photo; Gloria remembers the rest of the items on the list. 

When it comes to the “Something that hurts” part of the list, Jessica stabs herself in the hand with a scissor. Unfortunately for her, the ritual doesn’t work. After burning all the items, on the scissors is left, meaning the imaginary friend did not require her bloody implement. 

Taylor is frantic as she tells Jessica to fix this mess. Jessica in turn taunts her for being a selfish jerk who couldn’t look after her sister. No, Jessica didn’t grow a backbone. She was hurting herself by hurting Taylor. 

The sacrifice is accepted. 

IMAGINARY Ending Explained

The blue door opens and the three enter. Gloria is almost jumping with joy because she is finally in a realm she knew existed but couldn’t prove to the others. Jessica gets to see her younger self running about. Her father was trying to save her from the monstrous imaginary friend. It showed her father the imagination of millions of kids, overloading his brain and driving him crazy. 

Eventually the three are separated and Taylor finds herself in a kid’s bedroom where a lamp shows stars and teddy bears. Afraid of the teddy bear light falling on the giant-sized Chauncy, she unplugs it but ends up seeing a creepy version of Alice. 

Jessica and Taylor regroup only to find Gloria closing the door. Yup, she was a maniac all this time. She is happy to stay in this realm forever and tries to convince the others by telling them that they could have whatever they wanted if they imagined it. 

The imaginary friend does not want her though, and drags her away and kills her off-screen. Why does it only pick on Gloria? Was it because she was too nosy and annoying? 

Jessica and Taylor do a bit running about in the maze-like realm with staircases. It looks like the lights went out in the Squid Game arena. 

They eventually find a door with the apartment number of Taylor and Alice’s former home. They enter to find Alice having a tea party and dressed in a pretty dress. She’s happy that her sister and two mothers are here. What about Max? She has forgotten him just like the rest of us. 

Samantha is there too and trying hard to keep Alice here, but Jessica is determined to get out of there. Realizing this world works on the power of imagination and she has the strongest one, she decides to make a blue door herself using decorations around the room, even blue cupcakes. Alice joins in, thinking it is a fun activity to do. A kid getting to ruin walls. What fun!

Things go crazy and the imaginary friend takes on a monstrous form. Its angry that Jessica left him. Jessica tells Taylor and Alice to leave as she tries to distract the monster. 

There’s more running about until the girls manage to open the blue door and pull Jessica out. 

Things go back to normal a little too quickly. Jessica is visiting her father with everyone. Max is there for two seconds too! But everything is just too good to be true. Her father recognizes her, Taylor is behaving, and Alice just called her mom. 

Jessica pulls up Alice’s sleeve and finds that she no longer has scars. 

Realizing she is still in the imaginary world, she freaks out. The family around her act like zombies with large holes for eyes. They tell her she must stay or the imaginary friend will come after Alice and Taylor. 

Jessica is panicking when Taylor comes up behind her zombie-like counterpart and knocks her out. She grabs Jessica and they escape through the blue door. They frantically try to paint over it but Jessica is grabbed by the monster who has now taken on a spider form. Taylor manages to pull Jessica back. 

Alice sees lighter fluid on the ground and lights a match. The door burns down and along with it the house. Jessica doesn’t care if their house has burned down along with all their valuables. 

Imagine Max’s reaction when he returns. Not only were his daughters in peril, the house burned down too! 

Jessica, Alice and Taylor go to a hotel to spend the night but spot a teddy bear. Taylor remarks that she can see it too. The three cautiously approach only for the little boy to call the bear Rufus. The teddy doesn’t even look like Chauncy. 

The three still decide to look for another hotel and leave. 

Unfortunately, they don’t realize that the bear was Chauncy and has taken on a different form. 

The movie ends. 

Imaginary could have been entertaining, the material did hold a lot of promise. Unfortunately, the execution, and the just about average acting, lets the movie down. 

There were so many ways Imaginary could have been a scary movie, instead it is a tepid children’s horror movie. But even the kids would barely find it spooky. 

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