With Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1979 film Stalker as its case study, this article explores misconceptions about the relationship between imagery and imagination. Focusing on the relatively neglected territory of cinematic soundscapes, I canvas approaches to imagination in cognitive film theory and phenomenology in order to investigate sound design and film spectatorship in relation to philosophical accounts of imagination. In doing so, I aim to counterbalance the tendency to privilege visual images and cognition by considering overlooked aspects of imaginative experience that Stalker exemplifies and that screen media elicit, such as affect and synaesthesia. I conclude by considering the implications of technological advances in game-play and virtual reality for understanding embodied, imaginative engagement with new media.