Daniel Isn’t Real (Blu-ray) Arrow

Childhood wonderment meets the horror of the adult world in Daniel Isn’t Real, director Adam Egypt Mortimer’s (Some Kind of Hate) darkly twisted take on the “imaginary best friend” concept, critically acclaimed as “one of the year’s most disturbing out-and-out horror films” (Kim Newman).

Luke Nightingale, a lonely young boy with an emotionally unstable mother, invents a friend named Daniel who leads them both into a world of fantasy and imagination. After Daniel tricks Luke into doing something terrible, Luke is forced to banish him to the bottom of his subconscious. Twelve years later, Luke (Miles Robbins, Halloween 2018), now a college freshman, brings Daniel (Patrick Schwarzenegger, Midnight Sun) back — and he now appears as a charming, manipulative young man with a terrifying secret agenda.

Featuring star-making turns from a young cast, and co-starring Sasha Lane (American Honey) and Mary Stuart Masterson (Skin), Daniel Isn’t Real is a visually stunning, thought-provoking exploration of mental illness, entitlement and childhood trauma, perfectly tailored for our troubled times, and one of the most unique and captivating independent horror movies of recent years.