Daniel Isnt Real, and neither are the thrills, in this horror-movie cousin to Fight Club – The A.V. Club

Daniel Isnt Real, a new horror movie from director Adam Egypt Mortimer, explicates its title almost immediately. From a foreboding opening image of a cosmic vortex, the film cuts to a brutal mass shooting, the aftermath of which 6-year-old Luke (Griffin Robert Faulkner) wanders upon while his parents are fighting in their New York apartment. When his frazzled mother, Claire (Mary Stuart Masterson), eventually finds him in a nearby playground, he asks if his friend Daniel (Nathan Chandler Reid) can come for dinner. Although she sees no one else, she plays along, too preoccupied with her impending divorce to deal with a harmless imaginary friend. But things soon go horribly wrong when Luke, at Daniels behest, laces his moms drink with a bottle of pills. (Theyll give your mom superpowers, Daniel says.) As a consequence, she orders Luke to lock Daniel in his grandmothers antique dollhouse (an amusing bit of Jungian symbolism). Flash-forward a decade, and Luke (Miles Robbins) is now an awkward, mopey college freshman. Its not so much a matter of if the dollhouse will be unlocked, but when.

C

Adam Egypt Mortimer

Patrick Schwarzenegger, Miles Robbins, Sasha Lane, Hannah Marks, Mary Stuart Masterson

Select theaters, VOD, and digital platforms on December 6

Adapted from the novel In This Way I Was Saved by Brian DeLeeuw (who also co-wrote the script), Daniel Isnt Real soon brings to mind David Finchers cult classic Fight Club. While attempting to help his mentally ill motherhe later checks her into a psychiatric wardLuke decides to free Daniel (now played by Patrick Schwarzenegger), who becomes a kind of Tyler Durden figure. Eminently attractive, creative, and charismatic, he coaches Luke through various social interactions. Though previously sullen and reclusive, Luke starts hanging out with an aspiring artist named Cassie (American Honeys Sasha Lane), though because of Daniels meddling, he also gets involved with Sophie (Hannah Marks), a psychology major he meets at a house party. (In one of the films more bizarre, blatantly homoerotic touches, Daniel takes his shirt off to help Luke during an exam, revealing a set of formulas and answers written on his torso.) Inevitably, as Daniel becomes increasingly malevolent, things spiral violently out of control, and Luke becomes desperate, wondering whether he might have inherited his mothers schizophrenia, or whether Daniels presence is something else entirely.

Its to Mortimers credit that none of this really feels like it was adapted from a novel. The director makes no attempt to replicate the subjective ambiguity of DeLeeuws novel in the way that Fincher did for Chuck Palahniuks; he opts instead for effects-heavy set pieces (including two gnarly body-horror scenes), as are only appropriate for a film from the producers of Mandy. But the storys general trajectory isnt exactly novel, and plays like a mlange of familiar tropes: Viewers need only look to Ari Asters Hereditary for a thematically similar blend of psychological horror and supernatural fascination. And even more than that, Mortimers film ultimately lacks a behavioral or emotional acuity to match its over-the-top imagery. Beyond the central Luke/Daniel dynamic, theres no appreciable interest in Lukes social or domestic life beyond whats required to set the story in motion, which makes the films violent turns (not to mention its ostensible preoccupation with childhood/family trauma and mental illness) ring especially hollow. Mortimer builds Daniel Isnt Real to a conclusion that, in concept, should be both tragic and terrifying. Here, it just feels perfunctory.

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Daniel Isnt Real, and neither are the thrills, in this horror-movie cousin to Fight Club - The A.V. Club