Imaginary friends: a nostalgic staple of childhood or a sinister horror movie trope? These innocent figments of a child’s imagination have taken a dark turn in cinema, becoming a go-to device for delivering bone-chilling scares.
Through strategic corruption of idyllic childhood motifs, from the moment an imaginary ‘friend’ appears on-screen, viewers are instantly on edge, knowing this supposed harmless hallucination likely portends something much more ominous. Who could forget the gut-punch of discovering sweet little Andy’s friend Chucky was actually a possessed killer doll in Child’s Play? Or more recently, seeing ghost children possess giant animatronics in Five Nights at Freddy’s?
Case in point, audiences are about to experience a similar nightmare-inducing experience again when Jeff Wadlow‘s (Cry Wolf, Truth or Dare) original horror film Imaginary hits theaters this Friday, March 8.
To prepare you for what’s to come, or to scratch the itch the film is sure to leave you once you’ve seen it, what follows is a selection of some of our go-to horror movies featuring imaginary friends that blur the line between fantasy and frightening reality.
Writer/director Jacob Chase’s debut feature, Come Play is a film that cleverly dissects society’s dependence on state-of-the-art gadgets whilst making sure that the use of technology never feels shoehorned into the plot.
Inspired by the director’s fascination with complicated antagonists and the connection between modern technology and loneliness, the film follows Oliver, a non-verbal eight-year-old on the autism spectrum who feels he doesn’t fit in. Desperate for a friend, he seeks solace in his ever-present cell phone and tablet that he depends on to be able to communicate with the world. But when a mysterious creature going by the name of Larry starts trying to use Oliver’s devices as a portal to break into our world, Oliver’s parents must fight to save their son from the monster beyond the screen.
Daniel Isn’t Real opens with a lonely child, Luke, playing games with his imaginary friend Daniel to escape his troubled home life. But this seemingly innocent friendship takes a sinister turn when Daniel goads Luke into dangerous acts. Years later, teenage Luke reawakens Daniel, who morphs into a malicious force encouraging Luke’s darkest impulses. This psychological horror uses fantasy to explore mental illness in a grounded yet haunting way.
Who in the hell needs enemies when you’ve got pretend friends like Daniel?
In an interview about his new film, director Jeff Wadlow confesses how deeply the original Poltergeist influenced him. And no wonder – this 1982 collaboration between genre master Tobe Hooper and nostalgia maestro Steven Spielberg is a haunted house classic.
At first, the Freeling family believes their daughter’s “friends” are imaginary. But it’s not long before they realise that this is no fantasy – it’s a full-on haunting. And when the ghosts abduct the daughter, the terror shifts into overdrive.
Starring Craig T Nelson, Heather O’Rourke and JoBeth Williams, Poltergeist is one of the best haunted house movies ever made and the movie’s line “They’re here!” was voted as the #69 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
Lucky McKee’s macabre 2002 cult classic film plays brilliantly on our deepest human desires for connection and belonging.
Socially awkward May yearns for friendship. Following her mother’s advice, she decides to create her own lifeless confidant in the form of a doll in a glass case. So far, so normal and harmless, right? However, things spiral out of control when a fateful encounter makes May take her mother’s counsel way too far. She decides it’s time to build the perfect friend, stitching one together from choice body parts from real humans.
If you thought the previous film was as macabre as they come, wait till you get a load of Pin!
After losing their parents in a tragic accident, Leon and Ursula are left to fend for themselves. It’s not long before they welcome a peculiar new member into their family abode – Pin, a sentient doll that their father previously used as a medical prop. Leon rapidly forms an affectionate bond with this odd inanimate object, whilst Ursula grows increasingly unsettled, sensing something sinister lurking beneath Pin’s lifeless gaze. As you can imagine, the difference of opinion leads to unimaginable consequences.
A new terror awaits you in the dark of theaters when Imaginary opens on 8 March 2024. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with the trailer, which introduces Chauncey the Bear, a character who is sure to leave as indelible a mark as Chucky, Annabelle, et al.
