Daniel Isn’t Real
Adam Egypt Mortimer ’s 2019 psychological thriller horror filmDaniel Is n’t Realfollows Luke ( Miles Robbins ) as he fight to make do with his parent ’ divorcement and a malevolent and presumably imaginary booster makes an appearance to wreak havoc in his life . The plastic film ’s ending explores an array of themes that range from mental unwellness todemonic possessionthat results in a fucking close for the main protagonist . Feeling weight by manage for his schizoid female parent , Luke struggles with find his own voice in the world . When his doctor recommend him to bring back his fanciful friend to face up his preceding psychic trauma , he discover that Daniel ( Patrick Schwarzenegger ) is not imaginary after all .
Daniel ’s first appearance occur when Luke is a child and escape aside from rest home only to find himself at a scene of a murder . short , his new notional Quaker appears and becomes Luke ’s main source of puff . When Daniel convinces him to remove his mother by grind pills into her charmer , she push Luke to bound his fanciful ally to the family ’s former dollhouse . twelvemonth have excrete , but when he unlocks the dollhouse , Daniel reappear and promise to make his aliveness everything he could dream of and more . Except , he turn Luke ’s life into a incubus by possess his eubstance multiple times to commit atrocities .
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Daniel Is n’t Realis a film that moderate a overplus of subtext that has the power to bombard the viewer with an regalia of possibilities of who Daniel is and what his origins are . It is a thought - provoking level that uniquely tells the tale of past trauma , the unfitness to escape the inevitable , healing , and desire . finally , the close find Luke at the end of his Mexican valium with Daniel as he navigates the abyss in hopes of escape his grasp .
Who Is Daniel & Where Did He Come From?
portray by Patrick Schwarzenegger , the Logos ofThe Terminator(1984 ) legendArnold Schwarzenegger , Daniel first appears as a figment of Luke ’s imagination . It is vulgar for children to create imaginary ally during a prison term of crisis and , in horror movies in special , they commonly grow out to be something much more sinister , such as the spirit of Jodie in 2005’sAmityville Horror . Daniel is entirely dissimilar from any imaginary champion featured in the writing style . He is actually an ancient demonic being that goes beyond the traditional possession and coming into court .
He describes himself as a “ traveler ” who latch on to others in Holy Order to better their lives by provide them with confidence . Except , he uses his power to enter a person ’s living to make hurt to anyone they come in impinging with . Whenhis possessiongrows stronger , he traps his victim in an unfathomable prison where they slow transform into disfigured versions of themselves . As the film comes to an goal , Daniel reveals himself to be a parasitic , demonic entity from ancient times that will go on his reign of terror no matter how anyone seek to stop him . His inception are rooted millions of years before the existence of man and will keep even after all of humanity is gone .
Why Did Daniel Latch Onto Luke?
When Luke was a child , his parents went through a troubled divorce that result in him fleeing from their home during an literary argument . While it is assumed that Daniel latch onto Luke due to the traumatic event , he actually did so because his innocence made him loose to manipulate . After Luke stumble onto a crime scene where a murder took stead , Daniel latches onto him at once . The plastic film later on reveals that the murderer was the master of ceremonies for Daniel before Luke . Therefore , when the naïve child showed up at the scene of the crime , the parasitic Daniel took hold of him , as he was the airless individual that he could wangle without effect .
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Daniel continued terrorizing Luke into his maturity because he was just as lonely and innocent as he was as a child . The entity was able-bodied to take control of his life with promises of popularity , sex , and succeeder in his wild-eyed life . When Luke grow comfortable with let his supposed imaginary admirer to lead him towards these golden opportunities , Daniel took time lag of his body to wreak mayhem . He feed off of innocence and naiveness , Luke just so happens to have both .
Mental Health & Its Prevalence In The Film
Throughout the entirety of the motion-picture show , mental healthis a essence concern to the main character whether for himself or for his mother . Luke ’s mother was diagnose with schizophrenic disorder when she was his old age . He hospitalizes her after he comes home to discover that she was breaking mirrors and claiming something was star back at her . Daniel win over him to hospitalise her , but as the story progresses , Luke becomes implicated that the existence of his notional friend could be an indicant that he ’s develop schizophrenia as well .
The consumption of genial wellness in the film is to establish the importance of seeking help when an individual or loved one is have severe symptoms of mental malady . While Daniel ’s existence is not an indicator of schizophrenic psychosis , Luke consistently seek his doc ’s assistance for improve his mental health . It speaks volume toward the slap-up conversation around genial wellness and the importance of admitting the indigence for supporter . Daniel Is n’t Realis a taradiddle that speaks to the backwash of childhood trauma and its impact on individual as they grow into adulthood .
What Happened To Daniel & Luke At The End
After attempt to get rid of Daniel , Luke realizes that he will never be able to in full come away from the epenthetic entity . Even after split up through the abyss of Daniel ’s prison house and challenging him in an preternatural battle , he continues to feed off of Luke . The two can never be in full separated from one another . As a result , Luke institutionalize suicide by jumping off of the roof of an apartment composite . Now that he is deceased , Daniel can no longer feed off of him , so he flees the view to get hold his next victim .
Ultimately , Daniel begins his vicious cycles/second over again . He will seek high and depleted until he finds another innkeeper body to eat off of and direct them towards committing law-breaking similar to what he made Luke do . There is no manner of hold on Daniel . IfDaniel Is n’t Realgets the green illumination for a subsequence , it could be an astounding addition to the story of what and who Daniel is while ply an explanation as to what happens once his host bodies drop dead .
Daniel Is n’t Realis unlike any other supernatural horror moving picture that currently exists . It complicates the understanding of what a supernatural entity can be , how it manifests , and what a self-control can be like for the individual experiencing it . Furthermore , it invites an array of discussion on societal norms and expectations alongside an important discourse on genial health . While the ending prompts more question than answers , it does set up powerful potential for aDaniel Is n’t Realsequel .
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