Metacritic reviews

Even at its most entertaining, “Imaginary” has about as much staying power as the figments of imagination that give it its name. Just like your childhood imaginary friend, you’ll probably forget about it pretty quickly.

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 (like the killer pool in the same company’s Night Swim).

Fans typically expect well-executed jump scares, fun plot twists and the occasional rubbery monster. What they probably don’t expect is the sophisticated allegory that Imaginary appears to be flirting with — and comes close to pulling off — before losing its nerve.

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

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

Imaginary is as dour a slog as M3GAN was a bloody bit of self-aware camp.

It gets lost in a maze of awful storytelling and frustrating characters, all without offering anything more than the stock-standard horror tropes that have been done better in a million other movies.

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

Aiming for more fun is no bad thing but Imaginary is far too dumb and ungainly to move at the pace required and bring the thrills it should, a theme park ride that should be closed for repairs.

A horror movie so derivative that it becomes uniquely terrible.