It stars Miles Robbins, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Sasha Lane, Mary Stuart Masterson, Hannah Marks, Chukwudi Iwuji and Peter McRobbie.

Their friendship comes to an end when Daniel tricks Luke into blending an entire bottle of Claire's psychiatric medication into a smoothie, poisoning her.

Years later, college-aged Luke struggles with his social life and his responsibility to his mother, who copes with mental illness.

He helps Luke thwart a suicide attempt by Claire, succeed in school, and begin a romance with an artist named Cassie.

Elijah Wood, Daniel Noah, Josh C. Waller and Lisa Whalen will produce the film, while Timur Bekbosunov, Johnny Chang, Emma Lee, Peter Wong and Stacy Jorgensen will serve as executive producers, under their SpectreVision and ACE Pictures banners, respectively.

The critical consensus reads "Daniel Isn't Real, but the smart, stylish fun waiting for genre lovers in this well-acted suspense thriller is completely genuine.

[10] For Variety, Dennis Harvey called the film "first-rate in all departments" and a "stylishly crafted psychological horror thriller".

[1][2] In December 2020, while speaking to Bloody Disgusting, Mortimer confirmed a "Vortex Trilogy" consisting of Daniel Isn't Real, Archenemy, and a planned third film, saying "mark my words we are going to make a third movie in the Vortex Trilogy that will have Daniel return and force Max, in some form, to deal with it.

A crisis on infinite vortices pulling together as many of the characters from both stories as we can fit for a true cosmic horror/cosmic action crossover hybrid!