Michael Shanks’ Together takes the tired trope of toxic relationships and transforms it into a gloriously unhinged body-horror spectacle that’s equal parts nauseating and entertaining. Starring real-life couple Alison Brie and Dave Franco, this midnight movie gem proves that sometimes the best horror comes from taking metaphors to their most literal, grotesque extremes.
When Love Gets Literally Sticky
Brie and Franco play Millie and Tim, a perpetually stagnant couple whose move to small-town life becomes the catalyst for their codependency to manifest in increasingly disturbing physical ways. After a fateful encounter with a mysterious underground spring, their emotional inability to separate becomes a literal impossibility, complete with magnetic attractions and flesh-melding sequences that would make David Cronenberg proud.
What could have been another heavy-handed relationship allegory instead becomes a wickedly entertaining romp that knows exactly how ridiculous it is. The film’s genius lies in its commitment to the absurd – every double entendre about “being attached” or “unable to let go” is delivered with theatrical flair before being followed by inventively grotesque practical effects that somehow manage to be both revolting and hilarious.
Smart Execution of Dumb Fun
Franco and Brie’s chemistry works precisely because they lean into the material’s inherent campiness. Their over-the-top performances turn what could be annoying character flaws into comedic goldmines, especially when one partner is magnetically dragged across a room while the other watches in bewildered horror.
The film’s pacing stumbles initially with a languid setup, but once the body horror kicks in, Together becomes an absolute blast. Shanks skillfully blends practical makeup with CGI to create genuinely unsettling imagery, while maintaining enough dark humor to keep audiences laughing through their disgust.
Verdict
Together succeeds by embracing its conceptual simplicity and running wild with it. This is midnight movie material at its finest – a “dumb movie executed smartly” that delivers thrills, laughs, and plenty of squeamish moments. While the metaphor isn’t subtle, the execution is so committed and inventive that you can’t help but admire its audacious silliness.
★★★★☆
