PHOTO BY PARRISH LEWIS / LIONSGATE

If the horror flick “Imaginary” ekes out a win — and it’s a close win — it’s by being slightly more interesting than necessary.

A thousand PG-13 frights work pretty much like this one. A family moves to a new house; a child starts behaving strangely. Secrets are uncovered as a malevolent presence rears its head.

Blumhouse, the studio behind “Imaginary,” makes a movie like this roughly every six months. Yet in this case, the outcome is just a bit more surprising (and decidedly strange) than all the other apples in the bunch.

The family in question has a newcomer, reluctant protagonist Jessica (DeWanda Wise). She’s married passive hunk Max (Tom Payne), whose two daughters — rebellious teen Taylor (Taegen Burns) and melancholic moppet Alice (Pyper Braun) — are still reeling from the absence of their biological mother. The family attempts a fresh start by moving into Jessica’s idyllic childhood home — and it seems to work at first, as Jessica reconnects with her youth and Alice begins gleefully playing with an imaginary friend.

After some disturbing incidents, however, that friend — embodied by a cock-eyed teddy bear called Chauncey — turns out to be a bit of a problem. With an assist from an elderly neighbor who has a flair for the metaphysical (Betty Buckley), Jessica discovers that Chauncey isn’t quite imaginary.

The result, which I won’t even hint at here, is the rare third act that goes exactly where I hoped it would. Many lazy horror flicks of this ilk simply turn their conclusion into a high-tension chase sequence; Blumhouse did it themselves not two months ago with the drab “Night Swim.” But “Imaginary” has more uncanny ambitions, delivering a conclusion of the sort more typical of the fantasy horror films of the 1980s.

Whether or not that conclusion is unsettling or silly will likely be in the eyes of the viewer; some will certainly chuckle — though I think “Imaginary” is not entirely meant to be taken seriously. It is admittedly a bit of a slog to get there — the opening events are downright dull — but, by a button nose, “Imaginary” is just weird enough to work.

My Rating: 6/10

“Imaginary” is now playing in theaters.