Thursday, October 28, 2021

Horrorfest 2021: Daniel Isn't Real

Daniel Isn’t Real (2019)
Written by Adam Egypt Mortimer and Brian DeLeeuw
Based on the book by Brian DeLeeuw
Directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer
Starring Miles Robbins, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sasha Lane, Mary Stuart Masterson, Hannah Marks, Chukwudi Ilwuji and Peter McRobbie
USA

A college kid with a troubled mother reunites with his childhood imaginary friend. The imaginary friend originally visited in childhood just after the kid stumbled upon the bloody crime scene of a spree killer. At first a confident and outgoing influence on the shy kid, eventually the imaginary friend ends up symbolically locked away in a dollhouse after encouraging the kid to poison his mother.

Now, the imaginary friend’s confidence comes in handy once again as he helps navigate this kid through the ins and outs of college – like cheating on tests and romancing college girls. Of course, the imaginary friend’s nasty edge starts to come out again, and the college kid starts to investigate what might really be going on.

This movie starts out great but kinda falls apart at the climax. It’s not necessarily the explanation of what’s going on that tanks things so much as I guess the belabored and slow pace at which this stuff gets revealed. By the time the main character and his imaginary friend (who is actually an evil entity!) end up in a symbolic sword fight on a rooftop, I was overdue for end credits.

Still, for the most part, this flick’s worth a watch, with a particularly good performance from Miles Robbins as the college kid, though the flashier role is the imaginary friend, Daniel, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, son of – you guessed it! – Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nothing against Patrick, but this movie might have gone from okay to great if someone with a little more presence or gravitas or… I don’t know what… got the flashy role. But don’t tell Arnold I said that.

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