TOGETHER (2025) – An Exercise in Mediocre Horror Cinema

Together initially entices with the promise of a love story marbled through a horror narrative. Starring the youthful duo of Dave Franco and Alison Brie, its minimalist poster hints at the potential for arthouse originality. Sadly, those hopes evaporate almost instantly as the film unspools.

The most immediate impression is disappointment—a script riddled with clichés and tired tropes delivered in a manner that’s uninspired at best. Our setting is, once again, an anonymous rural town, and the plot revolves around that endlessly recycled premise: a couple moves into a new place, only to confront sinister forces. This time, the menace takes the form of an eye-rolling subplot featuring cultist beliefs and a magical potion that enables some supernatural force to possess whoever imbibes it. The result? A film that’s more muddled than mysterious.

Together’s attempts at scares are contrived, sometimes veering towards the gratuitous under the guise of entertainment. The final act, advertised as a twist, manages only to strain credulity. With a humorless tone and an insistence on seriousness, the film offers no comic relief or sense of irony. Characters behave irrationally, seemingly only to serve the next arbitrary escalation in the plot’s absurdity.

Dave Franco stands out as the lone bright spot—less grating than his older brother James, and showing flickers of potential in a role that otherwise gives him little to work with. The rest of the cast, unfortunately, are hamstrung by dialogue so poor that even their best efforts can’t salvage their performances.

In an overcrowded genre, Together is a forgettable entry, unlikely to linger in the memory once the credits roll. Horror movies are churned out en masse in Hollywood, prized for their profitability rather than their artistry. For genre fans, this flood means sifting through mediocrity in the hope of discovering something worthwhile. This film, regrettably, is not it.