Alison Brie and Dave Franco become gross in a body horror comedy

There is something undeniably strange about what happens to people in a committed relationship. It is easy for some form of co-dependence to arise, and it is worrying to find that its sense of itself becomes so mutable. For those of us seeing two people to become a couple, you can want to see some transformation that occurs slowly; The person who used to know begins to dress and act differently, and in some extreme cases, he can even start thinking differently. Although even the healthiest long -term relationship implies some version of codependence, it is more likely to occur so gradually and imperceptibly that no one can notice it. However, what would happen if that agency was outsourced? What would happen if, for example, the craving and the need you have to be with your person was not only emotional, but physical?

That is essentially the premise of “Together”, a new horror comedy of the writer’s body and director for the first time Michael Shanks. Thanks in large part to success (not to mention the nominations for the Academy Awards) for “The Substance” last year, Body Horror is having a conventional moment, and it is likely to be part of why Neon decided to acquire the film during the Sundance Film Festival this week for distribution in August of this year. That does not mean that “together” does not succeed in its own merits. Far from this, since the film is loaded with parts of sets that deliver, largely thanks to the committed work of Dave Franco and Alison Brie. While “together” it can be a bit of memory and feel that we are retaining for us the fans of Gorehound Sicko’s terror, it certainly offers for a general audience, which means that it is a great gateway horror movie for the no initiated.

From the initial moments, “Together” establishes a high bar to the tribute to a pair of fully hard body horror films. During a search in the forest of a small town in the state of New York for a couple of missing hikers, a man’s dogs meet the ruins of an old church that has collapsed on the ground, with a strange embroidery in their Center that seems very reminiscent of a location in the “annihilation” of Alex Garland. After both dogs take a drink of the mysterious water, the man brings them back home, disturbed why they now seem to be looking intensely at each other. Very soon, something happens to the dogs that remember the initial moments of “The Thing” by John Carpenter, and is clear before any human character begins to deliver the exhibition that something in that water can make two living beings be Fuse without control physically.

Then they present our partner of protagonists: a successful school teacher, Millie (Alison Brie) and her thirty -year -old boyfriend, Tim (Dave Franco). The two seem inseparable for their friends, but not everything is well behind closed doors, since Tim feels increasingly trapped in their relationship, while Millie feels a lot like a substitute mother. The two have not made love in a long time, a problem only exacerbated by the even more recent death of Tim’s parents (flashes of which we see in a very “average” way, with those images the most nightmare of the whole film ). After a shamefully uncomfortable marriage proposal, Tim and Millie move to a house in that small town in the state of the opening. Millie takes a new job in a local school, calling the attention of a teacher and neighbor senión, Jamie (Damon Herriman), while Tim insists on trying to revive her deception of music traveling back and forth to the city of Nueva York One day, the couple tries to revive their spark making a walk in the nearby forest, just to accidentally stumble in those ruins during a storm. Since the two are forced to wait for the storm during the night, Tim runs out of water, which makes it use that close liquid group.

From there, we go to the races, and the Shanks admirably do not waste time to bring ancestry. That said, the film does not spend some time without Tim or Millie very aware of what is happening and why, which leaves us waiting for the protagonists to play to catch up too long. Fortunately, the stems of the pieces and their crew have created a sufficient distraction of the mechanics of the plot, since each sequence accumulates skillfully to a high point and offers the promise of the premise. Namely: if he questions what could happen when an infected couple with something that tries to merge their bodies finally does the unpleasant, will get their answers and something else.

Shanks can clearly combine horror and comedy, keeping hilarious things without letting the tension decrease, and it is a technique that allows you to interpret an audience as a violin. “Together” is one of those commercial horror films where you can literally see an audience react in unison; The screams, laughs and groans come as if the audience had been rehearsed beforehand. As artisanal filmmaker, Shanks stands out undeniably, alive the problems of logic and rules by making each new Tim and Millie problem have to face the most emotionally possible.

If there is an important harmful for the film, it is that the material never crosses the surface, the film is literally and figuratively with deep skin. That does not mean that there is no substance here: issues such as Tim’s parents who make it childish, Millie’s needs that manifest as dominant and other similar elements arise, and are quite welcome when they do. Unfortunately, once the dilemma of the horror of the body, the couple’s face becomes a constant problem instead of intermittent, it seems that much of their personal drama is stirred, a perfectly timed dialogue line of Brie essentially closes the Emotional tension between the duo and although it is a great line of laughter, it feels like a great dramatically lost opportunity.

With the stems essentially dropping the ball in the rose war between the couple at that time, which stays “together” stays through the launch of the partners of real life Brie and Franco. This is the second horror film in which they starred together (after “The Rental” directed by Franco of 2020), which makes them a kind of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands of independent horror. There is a special frisson that the film has knowing that we are watching two people who really know them intimately through that madness, and although it is not the same exhibition tension as, for example, “Eyes Wide Wide” by Kubrick, is impressive How clearly they are the game and the mission Franco and Brie, for the film and among them.

How much “together” is put under your skin, it probably depends largely on the state of your relationship. For single people, it is a slight movie but a cry, with characters that act strangely and irrationally long before someone drinks magical water. For those in a relationship, I would dare to guess that they could bother them a little more, which causes them circumstances.

In any case, both single people and couples can enjoy “together” of the way they feel as if they were designed to enjoy: as a horror movie of strident, fun and naughty appointment in a movie theater. While the film has its pleasures on its own, its effect is absolutely magnified to see it with the right audience. In this way, I suppose that the film has a cunning and subversive subtext: after these long years of relative isolation, where it seems that people have become more and more accustomed to individual experiences, here is a film that feeds our fear of others people and reinforce our need to share our lives with another person. As much as he never fully understands that person by his side, it turns out that “together” is better experienced, well, together.

/Classification of the film: 8 of 10

“Together” premiered at the Sunday 2025 Film Festival. It will open in theaters on August 1, 2025.