Together

Despite the ever-growing popularity of horror films, I can honestly say I’ve really tired of half-baked releases that just don’t cut it, and that’s very much the case with this debut feature from writer-director Michael Shanks. By “half-baked,” I’m referring to pictures that aren’t especially scary, fall into patterns of predictable plot developments, routinely incorporate vague, unexplained elements, and fail woefully in their attempts at trying to offer audiences “something more” in terms of meaningful content, themes or insights. Regrettably, this combination of underwhelming qualities often results in meandering narratives that make little sense and don’t deliver on their hoped-for entertainment and visionary promises. It’s particularly disappointing with offerings that aspire to the commendable “smart horror” moniker yet still manage to come up short, as is so here. For what it’s worth, “Together” follows the cryptic, unsettling experiences of Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Alison Brie), a tale in which these real-life off-screen spouses portray a long-term unmarried couple whose relationship has hit troubled waters, resulting in a gap wider between them than what most of us saw during the days of social distancing. This becomes further aggravated when the long-term city duo relocates to the country, where Millie takes a new teaching job while Tim tries to sort out his future as a wannabe rock star. They genuinely seem to love one another, but is that enough to sustain their partnership? And, when they fall prey to a series of odd paranormal experiences that simultaneously drive them emotionally further apart while bringing them physically closer together (literally) than they ever could have imagined, their lives and world are turned upside down. In telling their story, the filmmaker seeks to make a statement about the challenges and joys that can accompany long-term romances, using a horror context as the backdrop for the exploration of these notions. And, while this approach may have some laudable merits on paper, the execution of this idea nevertheless leaves much to be desired, leading viewers through a series of underdeveloped and unrelated episodes that collectively fail to gel. Sadly, whatever connections were being sought after here are often scattered, employing a variety of tropes that just don’t mesh well. The film is at times romantic, at times modestly frightening and at times comedically campy, but it never settles on a consistent path as the story plays out. What’s more, the chemistry between the two leads is never truly convincing, making one wonder why these two partners are together in the first place and how they’ve managed to stay together as long as they have. In short, this offering ironically never really hangs “together” in my estimation, a major letdown for what was supposed to be one of the most anticipated releases of the summer movie season. Unfortunately, though, this typifies what has happened with so many of today’s horror flicks, including many of the more ambitious projects that have sought to raise the bar for this genre. Indeed, there’s not much to see here, folks, so my recommendation is to simply move along.

With their now largely sexless relationship straining at the seams,  aspiring musician “Tim” (Dave Franco) and partner “Millie” (Alison Brie) move to a remote rural house near the school where she is to teach. The pair go for a country walk and during a sudden storm fall into what they think is a cavern, complete with old pews and a rather curious mural. Luckily there is a pool there so they don’t suffer from thirst before awakening in the morning and clambering out. No harm done, it appears, until poor old “Tim” goes to take a shower and finds he is no longer master of his own movements. He bounces around that shower cubicle like something magnetic is manipulating him. That’s just the start of this magnetism though, and pretty swiftly the pair are at their wits end trying to comprehend just what appears to be happening to them. When “Millie” pays a visit to one of her colleagues, she (and we) begin to put one and one together… It’s tongue is very much in it’s cheek here, there is some dark humour and an especially sticky scene in a toilet that might just make you wince! The ending isn’t the best, it sort of fizzles out disappointingly but along the way there is a bit more of a story to it, Franco and Brie gel well as they master the art of painful looking body-popping and the visual effects are creepy and effective. It’s a little bit of a slow starter, but once it gets into gear it hares along nicely.