Michael Shanks’ “Together” begins with a prologue informing us that, within a small town, a couple has gone missing and a weird underground cave might have something to do with it.
We then meet Millie (Alison Brie) a teacher who is leaving the city to take a job out in the country, along with her musician boyfriend Tim (Dave Franco), who everyone agrees is very lucky to be with Millie and not quite good enough for her.
At a going-away party, several of Tim and Millie’s friends not only remind them both of how much better Millie is in this coupling, but an awkward romantic gesture that backfires puts Tim in the doghouse. Once they arrive at their new home, both are clearly considering if they’re right for each other.
Then, they go for a hike on a trail that obviously either leads to Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, a haunted house, or the weird cave from the opener.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb9tln–Ajs
The problem with “Together” is that you can sense the script checking off the boxes right away. The early hike isn’t the first time things get overly predictable. There’s a third main character who enters that story and obviously holds the secret to the whole thing – I easily detected his villainy and suspect many will do the same.
Minor spoiler – if you somehow haven’t seen the trailer or poster, then you won’t be aware that the result of Tim and Millie being in the creepy cave is that they suddenly begin to stick together, as they their flesh were Velcro.
It initially adds a weird sensuality, as their urge to merge now has serious and painful consequences, but it becomes gross once we see the seemingly magnetic pull they experience only grows stronger over time.
When the horror is grounded in the psychological, it’s truly effective. For a while, we’re meant to consider if it’s all in Tim’s head and the logic works best at that level.
Once we get to how this sticky sensation affects the body physically when someone isn’t around, with the leads thrashing against shower walls and windows, as well as being dragged by invisible forces, the laughs come and they’re not always intentional.
Scenes of Franco and Brie struggling not to smack into each other reminded me of the forgotten “Amazing Stories” (1985-1987) episode “The Main Attraction,” which is a lot like this movie, minus the gore and bathroom stall sex.
There is a frightening subplot, concerning Tim’s parents, presented first as a potent nightmare (by far the film’s scariest scene), then as a grueling flashback. Otherwise, the story is daring but not at all surprising.
What holds it all together (see what I did there?) are Franco and especially Brie’s excellent performances. I was always rooting for this couple’s relationship and their survival, which is due to how well the actors make us care.
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Here is the third horror-hybrid film this year (after “Companion” and the just-out “Oh, Hi!”) to tell us, as subtext or openly, that there’s nothing worse than being in a relationship. Run for the hills, kids! Marriage sucks and fidelity to one person for the rest of your life is a form of personal imprisonment.
Having been in a happy marriage for decades, I write this with tongue in cheek and, for that matter, “Together” is only sorta-kidding about its status as an anti-date movie and sporting an un-romantic takeaway about coupling.
Since Franco and Brie are a married couple, it not only lends an undeniable chemistry to roles that would be hard for any actor and, perhaps, the assurance that the whole thing is meant to be fun. Perhaps not.
If there’s contemporary subtext to unpack, perhaps it’s how COVID-19 forced many to stay indoors, stuck and unhappy, made to face whatever and whomever was suffering next to us.
If that’s the case, “Together” could be a perfect double feature with Ari Aster’s unpleasant, unforgettable 2020 flashback “Eddington.” The thriller might be “too soon” to fully appreciate today, but it will probably age better than any of his genre offerings.
Another angle to consider with “Together” – if, as some say, “hell is other people,” then being stuck, literally and figuratively, with someone who may be right for you is, well, fodder for a horror film.
I wish Shanks’ screenplay were smarter and fresher. Explaining the concept gets this into trouble immediately, as the reason “why” is stupid and illogical – we’re meant to just go with it and not ask questions. As in this summer’s other acclaimed arthouse horror film, “Bring Her Back,” a grainy, scratchy VHS recording is on hand to explain lots of backstory.
(I’m ready for DVDs to become the exposition bearer of bad news).
Walking out of the theater, a few critics I saw this with compared it to “The Substance” (2024), which has now become the new standard for “body horror.” I’d go further back and point out that Brian Yuzna’s “Society” (1989), a satire of what ultra-rich California movie stars are really like behind mansion doors, is even funnier, far more disgusting and accomplished in its depiction of bodies being smushed into one.
“Society” did it with goopy prosthetics, whereas the CGI in “Together” is effective but obvious. Nothing in “Together,” in terms of challenging our gag reflexes, can go toe to toe with anything from David Cronenberg.
Compared to “Crimes of the Future” (2022), that movie is punk, whereas this one’s a 90’s boy-band anthem.
Speaking of which, I figured the title and subject matter would lead to a jokey song in the late going, as there are just too many love songs with the word “together” in the movie. What the filmmakers settle on is disappointingly on the nose, though likely the most affordable option for a mid-budget horror film.
Osgood Perkins’ forthcoming “Keeper” appears to be the fourth film this year on the subject, completing a 2025 quadrilogy of cinema intended to make us re-think that marriage proposal, let alone that second phone call.
“Phone call,” ugh. I’m old. No one calls anyone anymore.
Two and a Half Stars