Together (dir. Michael Shanks)

by Jack Martin | Aug 16, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 107 mins

UK Distributor: Entertainment Film Distributors

UK Release Date: 15 August 2025

WHO’S IN TOGETHER?

Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Damon Herriman, Mia Morrissey, Jack Kenny, Sunny S. Walia, Karl Richmond, Charlie Lees, MJ Dorning, Tom Considine, Melanie Beddie, Sarah Lang, Rob Brown

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Michael Shanks (director, writer), Alison Brie, Mike Cowap, Erik Feig, Dave Franco, Julia Hammer, Tim Headington, Andrew Mittman and Max Silva (producers), Cornel Wilczek (composer), Germain McMicking (cinematographer), Sean Lahiff (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A couple (Franco and Brie) finds their fractured bond becoming more horrifically inseparable…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON TOGETHER?

When something is hyped beyond imagination, it’s extremely rare for said thing to live up to those expectations. Take Together, for instance: the moment it debuted at Sundance earlier this year, critics and audiences went absolutely nuts for it, calling writer-director Michael Shanks’s debut feature a body horror that rivals and possibly even outpaces The Substance, and for months it maintained a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes (until recently, when one or two of my fellow critics let their less receptive voices heard) which, especially for a horror film, is an incredible feat.

Going into the film with greater expectations than a Charles Dickens novel was, as it turned out, my biggest mistake. What I saw was far from bad, even quite good in parts, but definitely not the masterpiece everyone was hyping it up to be.

The film opens with couple Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Alison Brie) moving to a nice countryside home where Millie can be close to a new teaching job. Having been together for years, the two have reached a point in their relationship where they are starting to doubt each other’s long-term commitment to one another, with Tim awkwardly hesitating during an impromptu proposal just before the move, and Millie striking up a friendship with fellow teacher and new neighbour Jamie (Damon Herriman). Their relationship is put to the ultimate test when, whilst on a hike, they stumble across a mysterious underground sanctuary and, rather unwisely, drink from the nearby lagoon. Very quickly, they begin experiencing a series of strange events that pull them closer and closer together… all too literally, in fact.

With a premise like that, and the fact that it’s been labelled as a body horror, it’s pretty easy to guess what ends up happening to these characters. The journey there, though, is often wickedly entertaining as Shanks deploys some impressive effects, both practical and visual, to show the rather deranged process that Tim and Millie end up going through, whether it’s parts of the body sticking very closely to one another – even the more, erm, sensitive parts – or some inspired physicality among the actors as they’re thrust around like ragdolls and contorting their bodies to wildly uncomfortable angles. The filmmaker also takes strong advantage of the fact that his leads are actually married in real life, because not only do Franco and Brie have fantastic chemistry with each other but they feel so much like a couple who have been together for years that sometimes it doesn’t even seem like they’re acting. Shanks even works in a few effective jump-scares, including one early on that is so smoothly executed it’s almost creepier than how it probably was in theory.

There are a lot of good things about Together, but also its fair share of rather dumb moments that do unfortunately drag it down. It’s the kind of horror movie that tends to rely on characters being too assuming of seemingly trustworthy people or overly sceptical of what’s happening directly in front of them for the plot to work, whereas the slightest bit of common sense might have brought a much quicker end to this situation. It also goes a bit overboard with some of the fake-out dream sequences that are only there to put something freaky or surreal in the trailer and do little if not nothing else to further the actual narrative, except to show off some chilling cinematography and one or two haunting visuals. Other beats and reveals are also very easy to predict, with one being obvious from the moment we first meet a specific person and learn a bit more about their backstory, and as good as a lot of the effects are in this, there are a couple which are a bit questionable, particularly the very last shot that, despite being the amusing punchline to a feature-length joke, comes with its own ticket directly towards the uncanny valley.

Ultimately, the film appears to be a victim of its own hype. While it’s great that such an out-there body horror like this is receiving high praise from critics and strong attention from curious audiences, especially in a world where a film like The Substance can go on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars, there will undoubtedly be some who get swept up by all the anticipation and then feel somewhat underwhelmed when the film turns out to still be good, but not as much as they may have been led to believe. There’s still enough to enjoy about it, though the stuff that isn’t as strong nonetheless stands out, some of which even the less enthusiastic raves don’t seem to bring up as much, so keep that in mind before you decide whether or not to see it based purely on the overwhelming reception it’s received.

As overhyped as it may be, Together is still a pretty decent body horror with more about it that works than doesn’t. Like The Substance, it’s far from subtle, particularly with its very on-the-nose commentary on co-dependent relationships, but under confident enough direction and through two deeply committed lead performances, the film manages to score a few unsettling moments that will stick firmly in your head long after you finish watching it. However, if it’s a truly revelatory horror experience that you’re after, one that’s been promised by nearly all the other critics in the land, you may find yourself feeling less attached by the final product.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Together is a fun body horror that features effective filmmaking by writer-director Michael Shanks as well as a pair of committed physical lead performances by real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, but the film is a victim of its own hype as it carries some near-fatal storytelling flaws and predictable beats that leave it a less revelatory horror experience than it may have been billed as.