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FEATURE MOVIE

Five of cinema's creepiest imaginary friends

Frank ( Donnie Darko )

The new Blumhouse picture ' Imaginary ' can only be the work of a filmmaker whose youth was spent in the back corner of a video store, obsessing over the horror movies. Words Glenn Cochrane T he film, which we reckon is one of Blumhouse’s best, is an assortment of ’80s horror movie cuttings, sewn

Bunny ( Bunny Lake Is Missing )

together into a gnarly quilt, made for those movie lovers who also lived at their local video store. ”Oh my gosh!” exclaims director

Jeff Wadlow upon receiving our compliment. ”That is ridiculously high praise,” he adds with amusement. ”I don’t even think it’s close to my favourite Blumhouse movie, but I am beyond flattered. Thank you.” The movie tells the story of a woman who returns to her childhood home, along with her

Tony ( The Shining )

Taegen Burns, DeWanda Wise, and Pyper Braun

Imaginary takes place on Elm Street in Springwood DYK?

influences, Wadlow elaborates on some of the films that influenced the look and style of Imaginary . ”There are so many influences. All

we do is talk about our influences when we’re in production. From pulling art, talking about stories, and asking our collaborators what their influences are. But for me as a filmmaker, I will always try to identify a couple of touchstones for a film when I’m working on it. ”And the touchstones for Imaginary were certainly the original Poltergeist from 1982, and you’d be surprised, a more recent film, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth . That was another significant touchstone for us.” Although actress DeWanda Wise ( Jurassic World Dominion ) is the film’s lead antagonist (and she is excellent playing against type), the standout performance is undoubtedly from young Pyper Braun ( Desperation Road ), whose

Captain Howdy ( The Exorcist )

husband and two stepdaughters, only to find her old imaginary friend, a teddy bear named Chauncey, that she left behind. When her youngest stepdaughter befriends Chauncey, strange and scary things begin to happen, and it becomes evident that there is more to the toy than meets the eye. Cue buried traumas and mythical lore, and you’ve got a surreal and compelling fantasy that recalls so many classics before it. ”I’m a pop culture fanatic,” Wadlow admits. ”I love watching movies and TV shows. Comic books and action figures,” adding with laughter, ”I don’t care about sports and I’m single, so clearly you’re getting a picture of how I spend my time. And all of those references show up in whatever I’m working on.” ”I love a challenge, and I have always wanted to make a movie about an imaginary friend because I am very interested in subjectivity in storytelling. I like the idea of playing a game with the audience and having a dialogue with the audience. I’m saying to them, ’I’m showing you something, is it real or is it not? And if it’s not real does it have real consequences?’. I get such a rush out of that kind of filmmaking. Picking up on our fascination with the movie’s

Tomás ( The Orphanage )

comprehension of the story’s more sinister qualities is far beyond her years.

”She is next level,” Wadlow says of his young star. Her one take in the audition is as good as the thing she does in the movie. There’s an old Hollywood expression for when someone nails an audition, where you turn to your casting director and say, ’Get them in makeup!’, and what that means is to literally take this actor down to the lot, smack ’em with some makeup and put them in front of a camera, today! They are that good.”

Pyper Braun with Chauncey

• Imaginary is out Jun 5

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