Some children claim to have a friend that others cannot see or hear. In “Imaginary,” a weak and derivative effort from director and co-writer Jeff Wadlow (“Kick-Ass 2”), that friend comes in the form of a teddy bear named Chauncey that a little girl named Alice (Pyper Braun) whose mother has been institutionalized, finds inside the house in which her new stepmother Jessica (DeWanda Wise, “The Harder They Fall”), an artist and author of children’s books, grew up. Got all that?

Alice has a rebellious 15-year-old sister named Taylor (Taegen Burns), who has not warmed up to Jessica. The girls’ father is English rocker Max (Tom Payne, TV’s “The Walking Dead”). After Max, Jessica, Taylor and Alice move into the big, suburban Louisiana house, Taylor catches elderly, next-door neighbor Gloria (Betty Buckley no less) spying on them.

“Imaginary,” the latest entry from Blumhouse, is not very good or original. It is in large part an amalgam of such films as the “Child’s Play”- based “Chucky” franchise, Henry Selick’s brilliant 2009 stop-motion landmark “Coraline” and writer-director Jennifer Kent’s very distinctive horror film “The Babadook” (2014).

Jessica is plagued by nightmares. In the one that opens the film, her father, who is in a nursing home, turns into a spider-like creature and pursues her down a hallway. We learn that Jessica is working on a children’s book featuring a character named Milly Millipede, who interacts with a spider named Simon. Jessica is on deadline for book covers. In spite of all the stress, Max, whose English accent has not been picked up by his kids, heads off to “tour,” Stratocaster in hand.

Soon, Taylor gets involved with a neighborhood kid Liam (Matthew Sato), who tries to get her to take drugs. Alice and Chauncey, meanwhile, become best friends. In search of her teddy, Alice goes into the spooky basement alone, of course. I did my best to stay awake and commune with Mr. Furnace.

While I was wondering whose idea Jessica’s fashion choices were, the film takes a darker turn.

Both Jessica and Alice have literal scars on their arms. Alice and Chauncey go on scavenger hunts. Jess talks to a squirming blanket under which she believes Alice lurks. Guess what, Jess? That old standby, the woman therapist (Veronica Falcon), is sent to interview Alice, and in scenes that are confusing becomes convinced that the little girl is a ventriloquist. At about this point Alice paints a blue door in the basement.  Apparently, the makers of “Imaginary” think that a little girl’s mind resembles a lithographic print by the Dutch artist Maurits Cornelis Escher.

The film’s third act will involve something called the “Never Ever.” During Buckley’s mad speech about how her ridiculed research has now been proven correct, I imagined her sprouting whiskers and singing “Memory” from her stage hit “Cats.” “Imaginary” is not terrible. It is inconsequential. It is also one of those films that doesn’t know when to make a graceful exit. Begone, teddy, and take the cat.

(“Imaginary” contains violence, profanity and drugs)

“Imaginary”

Rated PG-13. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay, AMC Causeway, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport and suburban theaters.

Grade: B-