Premise: A college student accidentally resurrects his imaginary childhood friend, only to realize that the friend is more real and nefarious than he remembered.
The basic idea behind this movie is really cool. It takes the normal idea of a childhood best friend and turns it into a horror movie about mental illness growing up. I've seen versions of this before but none quite like this. It's especially unnerving as I came to realize that, well, Daniel was real. So, the majority of this movie I really enjoyed. It was fun seeing the initial appeal of having Daniel around and how that slowly turned into something bad. The filmmakers have a good eye for uncomfortable locations and images.
The movie did lose me toward the end as it literalized the threat of Daniel. I mean, what's the point of Daniel taking over Luke's body and actually morphing Luke's body into Daniel's? The different body horror aspect of the movie muddled the idea more than I cared for. This kind of movie works better the more uncertain the audience is about what's really going on with Luke. I'm also confused about the mother's insanity. Did she pass it onto Luke or did Luke actually pick up Daniel when he witnessed that murder scene as a child? Because, it's annoyingly convenient if Luke happens to be schizophrenic and have a literal demon in his head. This is where I will admit that perhaps I'm misunderstanding everything that the movie is suggesting.
Miles Robbins as Luke is appropriately passive for much of the movie. Patrick Schwarzenegger as Daniel is a complete prick, which is the aim of the character. I think I need to see him in more movies before I can say if it's a good performance or if Schwarzenegger just naturally carries himself like a prick. Sasha Lane plays the love interest. She's...fine. I keep stumbling onto all the movies she's in and nothing yet has convinced me that I want to commit nearly 3 hours to see her in American Honey yet.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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