Don't listen to him.
Daniel Isn't Real is a 2019 American Psychological Horror Film, adapted from the novel In This Way I Was Saved, by Brian Deleeuw. The film is directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer, and written by Mortimer and Deleeuw.
The story focuses on troubled college freshman named Luke (Miles Robbins) who, feeling stressed out by school and the need to care for his erratic mother, Claire (Mary Stuart Masterson) manifests the imaginary friend he hasn’t seen since he was a little boy. Daniel (Patrick Schwarzenegger) is everything Luke is not: sexy, bold, and very dangerous, which is why Luke ended up locking Daniel away in his mind all those years ago. But now his alter ego is back, and what begins as a helpful companionship turns into a parasitic exchange.
It had its world premier at the South By Southwest Film Festival in March of 2019, before being picked up for distribution by Metro Goldwyn Films, which released it theatrically in the US on December 6, 2019.
Tropes in this film include:
- A God Am I: Once Daniel notices Luke spending more attention on Cassie than him, and even starting to diverge from his advice when it comes to wooing her, his next immediate quote intended for Luke to repeat to her ends up being a Bible verse about the wrath of God, ending with:"Thou shalt have no other gods BUT ME!"
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: Daniel has a consistent face shown to people he manifests around, and a consistent true face only visible to hosts he's successfully parasitized. He seems to have a preference for the latter, but it's not clear if he has any control over how he looks to other people or if he deliberately looks the exact way he does.
- Ambiguous Ending: Luke throws himself and Daniel off a building, intending to kill himself to take out Daniel. It kills Luke, but doesn't destroy Daniel, who is shown in the psychological cage in his true form, and jumps into the stormy abyss—the same thing Luke did to forcibly manifest when held captive there, and the way he is implied to have first manifested in Luke's adulthood. However, since his current host is dead and it's not clear what happened to John Thigpen, he may not have another host to take over, making it unclear where or in what state he eventually ends up.
- And I Must Scream:
- Daniel was locked into Luke's grandmother's dollhouse by Luke's mother when Luke was a child, after he tricked Luke into almost killing his mom. He apparently wasn't able to leave it, as when Luke opens the dollhouse years after he's still there.
- John Thigpen is still in the same psychological cage Luke is shoved into once Daniel takes over for good.
- Daniel later on does the same to Luke, by locking his consciousness into the dollhouse.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: Daniel can hang upside down, mimic other peoples' voices, teleport short distances, and of course, can possess his hosts. He even demonstrates some ability to activate or worsen Luke's hallucinations brought on by an unclear disorder, causing him to see a monster he last hallucinated before Daniel was even free of the dollhouse.
- Berserk Button: For Daniel, it's being excluded in any fashion, no matter how slight.
- Biblical Motifs: All over the place.
- Daniel and Luke are names from the Bible. Daniel was an extremely capable advisor to a king who quickly ingratiated himself despite being, at heart, loyal only to another (God). Also, much as with the Daniel in this film, experts do not believe him to have been a real person.
- Daniel's meltdown regarding loyalty towards God.
- And, of course, Daniel turns out to be an actual demon, resembling (according to his own hand), one from Renaissance-era Christian paintings.
- Bittersweet Ending: The alternate ending. Luke lives, but is stuck in the imaginary friend role, and the host body—Daniel—is now dead, leaving him unable to be seen by anyone or to contact Cassie.
- Black Dude Dies First: Dr. Braun, Luke's black therapist, is killed by Daniel after he unsuccessfully tries to separate him from Luke. Subverted somewhat as John Thigpen's diner murder spree comprises the first few deaths, but Braun's is the first major murder shown in detail.
- Body Horror: Abundantly so.
- Daniel's method of possessing Luke. His face contorts into a series of appendages similar to tentacles, which latch onto Luke's face and merge with it.
- When Luke tries to get his body back with physical force, his arm breaks away, before instantly healing.
- Daniel's method of permanently taking over involves forcibly pulling open Luke's mouth into a wide orifice, which he crawls down face-first.
- Daniel twists and pulls away at Luke's face when Cassie rejects him, rearranging it as his own.
- Body Surf: John Thigpen's diner murder spree opens the film, and a young Luke has the misfortune to pass by the scene of the murder while his body is still there. Cue a kid named Daniel popping up right next to him.
- Chekhov's Skill: As a child, Daniel's playfighting sword games with Luke would be augmented with visual and auditory "enhancements", so that Luke would see real swords and hear real metal clangs. When Daniel swaps places with Luke, Luke gains the same ability, weaponizing ordinary tools like brooms and shovels into swords to impale Daniel with.
- Disproportionate Retribution: What drives Daniel to try to kill Luke's mother in the opening is...his mother telling him that "just" the two of them will be okay, excluding Daniel. Mind, she can't even see Daniel and thinks he's an imaginary friend.
- Eating the Eye Candy: While Cassie is changing at her art studio, Luke is looking at the art, and Daniel is looking at the exhibit.
- Empty Eyes: When Daniel sees or hears something that makes him unhappy or threatens to enrage him, he gets very quiet and gains a wide-eyed stare with very reflective eyes. Notably, this is a behavioral trait he had even as a child, and it's arguably more chilling than an outright Death Glare.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When Daniel compliments some of Luke's photos, Luke's honest response is that he is trying to connect with people. Daniel's response is a dismissive 'whatever you say', showing that Daniel does not believe in connecting people or believe Luke wants to.
- Foe Romance Subtext: Daniel and Luke, all over the place. Probably the worst of it is the first time Daniel takes over Luke's body—it resembles a tentacle-riddled version of a kiss.
- Foreshadowing: When Daniel is feeding Luke lines from books in the library to impress Cassie, the fact there's no way Luke could have read all of them, much less memorized them, is the first hint Daniel is not ''merely'' a hallucination or aspect of Luke's psyche.
- Gone Horribly Right: Dr. Braun's last-resort solution for helping Luke, which involves a ritual to suspend Luke in hypnosis and draw out Daniel. This works exactly as intended, but the problem is that Daniel isn't a simple construct of Luke's mind, but a demonic entity. As a result, Daniel manifests physically, possesses Luke, and kills Dr. Braun.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Daniel exhibits this when he sees Luke and Cassie bonding, and especially when he watches them have sex.
- The Hedonist: Daniel. He helps his hosts have fun and in the present day, assists Luke with becoming more socially smooth and loosening up into a popular party guy. However, his pursuit of fun is endless, and he has little regard for caution or sensitivity, encouraging Luke to have sex with Sophie even though he's pursuing Cassie. He also has little patience for anything that gets in the way, quickly suggesting violence against annoyances, and once he takes over, the first thing he does is press the obnoxious roommate's face into a steam pipe.
- Homoerotic Subtext: Daniel is presented as being everything Luke isn't, including suave, smart, and funny. He becomes increasingly possessive of Luke as their relationship continues, invading his personal space and touching him disturbingly. At one point he makes a show of his body to Luke, while Luke is studying for a test. Needing Daniel's help to remember the answers, Daniel removes his shirt seductively to reveal he has written the answers on his nude torso, forcing Luke to ogle him. Becomes Foe Romance Subtext as the film goes on.
- Humanoid Abomination: Daniel takes the form of an attractive young adult, but in actuality he's a demonic parasite who takes over his victim's bodies, forces them to commit violent acts and then makes them kill themselves. The ending of the film has him assume his true form after leaving Luke's body and it's not pretty.
- "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Cassie at the end, as she fends off Daniel. It works.
- Insane Equals Violent: Luke's mother is established to be unstable and a danger to herself and others; according to her own word, she tried to burn down a radio station when she was twenty because she thought the DJs were taunting her, and she has been known to break mirrors because she dislikes her reflection.
- Manchild: Daniel alternates between stone-faced stoicism and giggling immaturity, and his first day out of the dollhouse has him try to play with Luke like they did when they were kids, not understanding that Luke is an adult now and doesn't appreciate it.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Daniel alternates between exhibiting signs of sociopathy with his need for stimulation and lack of impulse control, and genuine psychopathy, with his inability to relate to or empathize with other peoples' emotions despite genuinely understanding the people around him enough to manipulate them.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Cassie, and to a lesser extent, Sophie, to Luke. Both are much more in touch with their quirky, fun, or irreverent sides than Luke.
- Meaningful Name: Aside from the Biblical Motifs, "Daniel" is also an anagram of "denial", something Luke goes through with regard to how much control he has over Daniel's existence and something Daniel expresses in regards to his crimes.
- Mood-Swinger: A prominent feature of Luke's mother's mental illness, and of Daniel.
- Naked First Impression: Daniel is re-introduced in this manner, with Luke and his mother having a tense encounter as his mother's mental illness worsens, and Luke noticing Daniel soaking in the bathtub halfway through.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Daniel is very deficient in this regard.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Daniel, who is first believed to be either an imaginary friend or an outright hallucination of Luke's, is actually a malevolent demonic entity who latches onto vulnerable people and forces them to commit acts of violence.
- Psycho Knife Nut: Daniel has an affinity for blades, including straight razors but most especially scissors.
- The Shadow Knows: Luke's shadow sometimes distorts into something inhuman, which Cassie includes in her painting of him without first realizing the implications.
- Slain in Their Sleep: While Luke is passed out drunk, Daniel realizes he's able to touch him, and the first thing he does is put a straight razor in Luke's hand and nearly slit his throat with it. He stops at the last second, but is clearly still holding a grudge for his imprisonment.
- Taking You with Me: The climax sees Luke jumping from a rooftop, so as to kill himself and stop Daniel from using his possessed body for further violence.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Daniel. He seems to genuinely enjoy helping Luke lighten up and enjoy his life more—but the second Luke starts deviating from his advice and doing things for himself, his attitude sours and the idea that he's not the person Luke is most devoted to quickly comes to the fore as a Berserk Button.
- Your Mind Makes It Real: Daniel exists as a primarily mental being attached to a host. When Luke sealed him away in the dollhouse as a child simply by telling him to do so, and then locking the door, it kept him sealed for 17 years.