*This article contains mild spoilers for Imaginary*
According to Imaginary director Jeff Wadlow, there’s scope for further exploration of the world created in his new fantasy-tinged horror film about a little girl and her increasingly sinister relationship with her imaginary friend.
Imaginary, from Wadlow’s frequent production collaborators Blumhouse, follows Alice (played by Pyper Braun) and her cuddly teddy bear named Chauncey as they play more and more troubling games together and she falls further under its thrall. The film also stars DeWanda Wise (Jurassic World: Dominion) as Alice’s stepmother Jessica, Taegen Burns as her sister Taylor, and horror legend Betty Buckley (Carrie, Split) as their neighbor Gloria. Once the horror kicks off in earnest, Alice disappears into a different dimension where imagination rules, called the Never-Ever, and the women in her life must follow her in order to save her.
Talking to 12DOVE about whether there’s more to explore in this fascinating land of doors and monsters and fantasies and Escher-esque staircases, Wadlow explains: "I would love to revisit the Never-Ever. It’s such an interesting world that we’ve created with this film. It’s not just like a Chucky movie or an Annabelle movie where there’s this sort of singular entity that’s the reason for the story, we are really tapping into a much bigger world and there’s a lot of stories there that could and should be told about the Never-Ever."
With Wadlow raising the subject of Annabelle, itself a spin-off from James Wan’s enduringly successful Conjuring universe, it seems fair to hope that we’ll be seeing more tales coming out of the Never-Ever and its terrifying imaginary inhabitants.
But for now, you can see Imaginary in cinemas from March 8, and for more unsettling movies to put you off your popcorn, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming horror movies coming in 2024.
We also spoke to the team behind the movie about the inspirations behind it and why the teddy bear caused carnage on set.
