Daniel Isn't Real - An Ominous and Whimsical Horror Flick
Directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer.
Cast; Miles Robbins as Luke, Patrick Schwarzenegger as Daniel, Sasha Lane as Cassie, Chukwudi Iwuji as Braun, Mary Stewart Masterson as Claire, and Peter McRobbie as Percy.
Premiered on March 9th, 2019 as SXSW film festival.
When I was four, I had an imaginary friend named April. She wore a yellow jumpsuit like April O’Neil from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and owned a zoo which held your run of the mill animals, some magical creatures and of course, dinosaurs. I don’t remember much else other than she helped me deal with my preschool bullying by escaping into my imagination where I could help her feed the velociraptors and upkeep the pumpkin patch. Having an imaginary friend was completely normal and according to a study back in 2004, 65% of children have had an imaginary friend by the age of seven. The numbers have decreased through the years though. If I had to take a guess, it’s the upgrade of technology and kids having access to iPads, computers, and cellphones during these developmental stages. That’s not why we’re here though. This is a look into a modern day imaginary friend with some cosmic lore swirling around the mysterious shadow, Daniel.
I went into this movie almost completely blind. I had seen a trailer maybe eight or so months ago, but luckily my memory is garbage so all I could remember was the haunting poster art and the scarecrow kid from Halloween (2018) was the lead role. I recommend going into this one in a similar fashion and as much as I would love for you to check out this review, there will be spoiler talk throughout the article.
The film starts out with a simple, but eye catching wide shot of a barista in a cafe. Something about this immediately puts your senses at ease, leading you to believe that we will be introduced to our main antagonist in a basic setting. However, in a matter of minutes, we’re jolted out of that comfort of a coffee house and jammed into a harsh reality when a young gunman enters the cafe. The soundtrack is overrun by gunshots, shattering glass, and screaming as we’re only given the look of pure terror on the barista’s face. It immediately brought me back to my first viewing of Children of the Corn which even though there were more sinister overtones, shocked me at the sudden influx of violence. Something I really admire about this film is how it reminds me of several other movies I’ve seen, moreso in a love letter fashion and it keeps the movie fresh and new.
We’re introduced to another brand of chaos in the home of our young antagonist, Luke, who escapes his feuding parents to bear witness to the coffee shop massacre. Seeing the gunman full of bullet holes is enough to traumatize anyone, especially at that age, which is when he’s whisked away by a new friend who distracts him from the gorey scene.
Enter Daniel.
Everything is seemingly normal as his mother accepts his new imaginary friend into their home and even smiles as they battle with broomsticks, in belief that they’re knights on the battlefield. However, the imaginary friend’s sinister nature comes to fruition as his jealousy grows from the boy’s relationship with his mother and convinces him to give her “superpowers” via overdosing her breakfast smoothie. After barely surviving the murder, the mother comes up with a plan to lock Daniel in the grandmother’s dollhouse. Unfortunately, one of my critiques on the movie is how it’s pacing. I really wish we could have seen more of young Luke and Daniel’s friendship and maybe a better descent into the overdose plot. It almost seems as if one moment, Daniel is the bee’s knees and the next he’s like, “So what if we just off-ed your mom real quick?” It also makes his inevitable return into Luke’s life seem very disjointed later on.
As the film progresses, we’re given a look into Luke’s current life. He’s living in a dorm in college with a seemingly bland frat boy roommate and suffers from severe anxiety as well as panic attacks. We see how bad his anxiety is at an annual wolf party (whatever that is?) when he suffers a debilitating panic attack where he sees some of his classmates faces melted and disformed. It’s then that he seeks out therapy and where he gives insight to his fractured relationship with his mother. He also brings to light his three fears in life; turning into his mother due to hereditary mental illness, sex, and death. His issues with his mother make it clear that he hesitates to visit and once we watch him do so, we can sympathize for him. She suffers from a fear of doctors and a disdain at her own reflection in a mirror. She also obsessively cuts out newspaper articles and pages from books and pastes them on the wall. It’s during this visit that we get to see her in the middle of a manic episode where she begins smashing all the mirrors in the house and we get the return of Luke’s imaginary friend, Daniel.
What I took from this movie was Luke attempting to conquer his greatest fears with Daniel fueling his charisma for doing so. Even if it’s not his intention. He helps him get his mother the help she needs and is given the tools to power through his anxiety and talk to women. During one of his dates with a vibrant painter, Cassie, we get a peek of Luke starting to come into his own and deflect Daniel as he misquotes a bible verse. Daniel is sure to finish the verse for him though.
Exodus 20:3; You shall have no other God before me.
End of Film Spoiler Alert Talk Below.
Earlier I spoke of this being a love letter to films I personally love and it gives off Fight Club meets Jacob’s Ladder vibes. I even found myself looking in shots earlier in the film to try and spot splices of Daniel in the blue and yellow hued shots, but was pleasantly greeted with beautiful wide angles and solid performances. The color pallete in this movie also brightens the more Daniel is seen. With the producers of Mandy at the helm, it was no surprise. Patrick Schwarzenegger even said the inspiration for his role as Daniel was inspired by many of Nicholas Cage’s performances. The Fight Club homages are everywhere when it comes to our two main characters, but the Jacob Ladder’s inspirations for me were in the more magical elements of the film. For instance, during a date with a girl Luke/Daniel manages to woo by comparing her to Louise Brookes, Daniel physically takes over Luke’s body so he can sleep with her- and also takes out his frustration with the frat boy college roommate. The special effects in this scene are truly stunning as Daniel seemingly melts into Luke and their faces are a congealed, squelching, mess.
As Luke attempts to find a way to get rid of Daniel, he unearths an unsettling twist to his imaginary friend’s lore by visiting the father of the coffee shop gunman. He shows Luke drawings that his son, John, did as a child and Daniel was illustrated in almost every one of them. This took the movie to a whole new level for me as it suddenly veered into a possession movie. As disjointed as some of the things in this movie are, this isn’t one of them for me. We even get to see Daniel physically crawl inside Luke which is another special effect show stopper. Patrick Schwarzenegger is phenomenal in his eerie line delivery as he announces that he is simply a traveler looking for a home.
As much as I really love Miles Robbins’ portrayal of timid Luke, when he has to master the duality of Daniel, it does come off a little corny. He dons a signature black lace shirt under a bright red suit and slicked back hair. It gave me Jaoquin Phoenix's Joker meets Spiderman 3’s Peter Parker vibes honestly. Thankfully though, that doesn’t last long and instead we’re whisked away to Luke imprisoned in his grandmother’s dollhouse. This was hands down my favorite part of the film as we get to see inside of the hellscape his imaginary friend was locked inside at the beginning. It’s poorly lit but the creature we see locked inside is another simple, yet effective melting face.
We have also seen Luke battle two of his fears thus far. His mother got the help she needed, he has a very romantic relation with Cassie, but it leaves his fear of death hanging over the rest of the movie. Something very fascinating with this movie is the depth of lore it teases at. As Luke manages to escape the dollhouse and into what’s referred to as ‘the abyss’, we see other sides of dollhouses along a large brick wall. This insinuates that there are more imaginary friends locked inside.
Overall, I loved Daniel Isn’t Real. The cinematography is crisp, the soundtrack is ominous yet whimsical, the performances are above average, and the special effects are simple, but highly effective. The only issue I really have with the movie is its pacing, but maybe that’s just because even at a hundred minute run time, I would have accepted another twenty minutes of this with open arms. With the element of a literal possessive imaginary friend, I could really see a sequel coming out of this and would welcome it if it gave more insight or stories behind the cosmic, dollhouse, wonderland that we’re given glimpses of.
Daniel Isn’t Real is streaming now on Shudder.
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