Studio: Decal-Neon
Release Date: 11/11/2025
Rating: R
Film Grade: B
The Story: Young couple Tim and Millie have decided to leave big city life to build their future in a little country town. Millie has found a job at a small school that will give her more time to spend with individual students. It’s a less attractive move for Tim. Although the secluded setting will give him more time to focus on his yet-to-take-off rock music career, it will be a real pain to get back to the city for rehearsals and performances.
Still, there are other advantages to living in the country. With a woods and forests nearby, there are plenty of opportunities for exploring the trails, such as a mysterious cave with its unusual contents that the couple eventually stumbles upon. What they find there will test, and ultimately transform, their relationship in an unexpected way.
My Take: Here we get another entry in what is shaping up to be a good year for horror. Together blends what could have been a traditional couple-focused drama to a body-horror story and throws in a good amount of dark humor for extra measure. The result is something that adds additional depth in both the characters and emotional storyline, while remaining surprisingly entertaining.
This is the debut feature film for writer/director Michael Shanks, who got noticed for his YouTube and music video work. Here, he uses that varied background to bring something fresh to audiences. While fans will recognize the influences of David Cronenberg along with Rob Bottin’s many contributions to the genre, this never feels derivative or like a cheap copy. This is due to the emotional elements that are the real foundation of the movie.
To that end, the performances of Dave Franco and Alison Brie (married in real life) are a fundamental reason of why the film works. Scenes of emotional intimacy and honesty are used to illustrate their struggles as a couple while they wrestle with maintaining individual identities. We’ve all known couples that have butted heads in much the same way, so their sources of friction are very believable. There are as many squirm-inducing moments coming from hurtful dialog as there are from any bodily danger. (Although there is one particularly moment solely focused on the physical that may stick with you long after viewing.) It’s that personal and emotional depth that allows the film to work as well as it does. In this way, it’s similar to Cronenberg’s The Fly.
One of the fun elements is the dark humor found in the dialog, which isn’t a primary feature of Cronenberg’s. There are callback phrases that work on a comedic level that aren’t often found in the genre. They’re presented here in a natural way that doesn’t come across as hokey or campy, so it’s not Freddy-level snark. Rather, it’s used for tension relief, delivered in just the right moments and with perfect tone.
I like to go back and look at some of the smaller details just to see how much effort is put into them. For example, The Substance had a scene with a newspaper that simply cut and pasted the same kinds of classified ads over and over, looking hackneyed. But in this movie, they’re paying attention, such as a local newspaper’s website featuring an article entitled, “Massive fern makes a loud sound as it falls in Sorora Park despite no one being around.” While it’s not connected to the plot, it’s a fun wink to the audience and another case of using humor to bring down tension for those fast enough to catch it.
Visuals: The movie was shot with two Sony VENICE 2 8K cameras and it’s used to create a natural-looking film from realistic interiors, to colorfully green outdoor landscapes, to the typical looking indoor school setting, to the dark and dank interior of that strange cave. All work together in service to the story, making the unbelievable feel real. There was one scene that had me check for banding, but even going in slow motion it was far from obvious, so the transfer work here is quite solid. Camera movements are fluid, so there’s no shaky cam effects.
The special effects are a combination of both practical and CGI, often blended so well it’s hard to tell them apart. Yet there are some telltale signs in others, such as the shiny and stiff look of physical appliances on the practical side and the lighting on some of the CGI. I’ll say that the final effects shot would have benefitted with a little less light and more shadow, inviting less scrutiny.
Audio: While the disc only comes with a 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix, it still features good sound design. There’s a sequence in the cave featuring a breathing effect that works really well to convey the character’s mindset. And earlier in the movie there’s a quieter noise that was effective enough to make me flinch. The soundtrack offers an eerie accompaniment to the visuals adding to the creep factor. Dialog was clear. As much as I enjoy Atmos mixes, this one worked quite well.
Special Features: While short, they do provide some insight from the creative team on what went into making the movie.
- Interview with Writer/Director Michael Shanks
- Interview with Alison Brie and Dave Franco
- Alison Brie & Dave Franco’s Codependency Quiz
- Teaser
- Trailer
Final Verdict: Of all places, Australia is providing some fresh and original horror films. In the past few years we’ve gotten Bring Her Back, Late Night with the Devil, Sting, and Talk to Me, each with different themes, settings, and subgenres, and all above average. Together adds to that list by joining what could serve as a conventional love story to an atypical horror element, while also throwing in such diverse influences as Plato’s teachings.
I will note that there is a bit of controversy surrounding the movie. Brie, Franco, and Shanks are all being sued by fellow filmmakers Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale, who claim that the movie is a blatant rip-off of their earlier film, Better Half, which had once been shopped to Brie and Franco. Shanks has responded that his script was in development long before Better Half was presented to the two actors. I’ve not seen the other film, so can’t offer any opinion on the merit of the case.
Regardless, Together is highly recommended for fans of body horror. But I’ll also recommend it to anyone interested in a character study of two 30 somethings as they struggle whether they’re better off as individuals or as a whole, all while coping with unnatural events. The clever use of humor helps balance out some of the squirmier sections, allowing non-horror fans to enjoy it as well. To this point, my wife gave the movie the same B grade and liked it as much as I did.
With the recent releases from first-time directors, I have increasing optimism for the future of cinema. Each release like this that offers some originality and technical skill, all with a modest budget, has me looking forward to new projects.
A Line So Nice, They Used It Twice: “It's called diazepam now.”
My Review System:JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
Oppo BDP-93
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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