Together (2025) Review!!

Synopsis – A couple’s move to the countryside triggers a supernatural incident that drastically alters their relationship, existence, and physical form.

My Take – If the success of last year’s The Substance ensured body horror’s return to mainstream, this Neon backed debut feature from Australian writer-director Michael Shanks will certainly ensure more producers and studios will invest into the sub-genre.

Headlined by real-life married actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco, the film is structured as a fun, tragic, and disturbing commentary on how painful and restrictive a codependent relationship can be. A genre mashup that takes emotional intimacy to grotesque extremes. Where with every squelch and stretch of fused flesh, the film interrogates the simple and terrifying question: what if loving someone too much makes you physically incapable of letting go?

Culminating in something that’s as hilarious as it is horrific, director Shanks, Franco and Brie (who have also co-produced the film) have fused together another prime example of how the genre can give way to an emotional catharsis as it delights in the disgusting.

Sure, it does have structural problems, like, the film’s second act lingers too long in its setup, where it keeps circling the emotional drain without enough escalation.

Yet, it remains a strikingly assured debut. The boldness of the vision and the specificity of the metaphor allow it to stand apart from a tsunami of horror films that are often too eager to explain themselves or settle into safe formulas. Anyone looking for something different are going to have a blast with this one.

The story follows Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Alison Brie), a couple at a crossroads. They’ve been together for a decade and still absolutely love each other, but familiarity and contempt has crept in. They haven’t been intimate in months. Millie is a schoolteacher with an impressive resume and a promising new opportunity in the countryside away from the city.

While Tim is a flailing, anxiety-ridden city boy and wannabe rock star who hasn’t been the same since the recent shock of his father’s death. And not even being able to drive a car, Tim starts to feel like a hostage, while Millie starts to feel like she’s married to an eternal adolescent.

One day, while hiking near their new residence, in the middle of a heavy rainfall, the two end up falling into a cave and discover a hidden, subterranean chapel. But when they make the mistake of drinking from the underground body of water, they start to find themselves inexplicably drawn to each other’s bodies, and every time they try to separate, their skin doesn’t want to let go.

The premise is no doubt surreal, but writer-director Shanks treats it with an almost classical relationship structure like fights, reconciliations, shared trauma, and secrets, all filtered through the lens of Cronenbergian horror. While the prologue presents a chilling scene of things to come, a nightmarish image straight out of John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), not much comes of this scene in the context of the story.

Mainly because as a storyteller Shanks wants to center on Tim and Millie’s relationship. Though initially Tim comes off as a 35-year-old emotionally stunted man who has lost all interest in intimacy with his partner, and is only focused on his demos, his character becomes likable when it becomes evident that he’s working through his trauma, and while he may not bring any money to the relationship, he cooks, takes care of the house, and is still invested, no matter how much Millie’s best friend, Cath (Mia Morrissey) says otherwise. He is trying and just needs a little time.

On the other hand, while Millie is taking care of them financially and allowing to let Tim take intimacy at his pace, she is also dismissive of Tim’s trauma, and more importantly, she wields it as a verbal knife when they argue. Here, the physical fusion of Millie and Tim is not just for shock value — it’s a metaphor brought to life with shocking commitment.

Shanks explores how two people can become so entangled that it’s impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins, until their love becomes something monstrous. Visually, the film thrives on its inventive, practical effects. The fusions are disgusting in all the right ways: sinew-stretched limbs, jawlines stitched with muscle, hands merged at the bone. The sound design is equally stomach-churning.

The casting of real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie works very favorably for the narrative, as their chemistry is very strong. Their real-life partnership gives their dynamic a lived-in authenticity that elevates every scene, especially the film’s more emotionally loaded moments. Their chemistry sells even the wildest narrative turns, grounding the body horror in something heartbreakingly human.

Brie delivers one of her most raw, fearless performances to date. Her portrayal is layered, oscillating between vulnerability, panic, sardonic humor, and utter desperation as the horror ramps up. Franco is more restrained but provides a necessary counterbalance as to the proceedings. Damon Herriman makes an admirable effort in supporting role. On the whole, ‘Together’ is a grossly fun time that is disgustingly sweet, funny and grotesque.