The 2025 Sundance Midnighter section had its fair share of duds, so “Together” was a breath of fresh air when I sat down to watch the premiere after waiting out in the literal freezing cold. An excellent blend of atmospheric body horror and rom-com relationship humor create a haunting and unsettling watch in the best of ways.
Of course, using real life married couple Allison Brie (“GLOW,” “Community“) and David Franco (“The Studio“) is a smart move, providing a metatextual layer of chemistry between the two that feels uniquely real because well, it is. It smartly crafts a strangely beautiful love story that digs deep into the unexplainable connections we have with the right partners, even when everything screams that you being together is wrong. NEON‘s “Together” is frankly not possible without the married stars, but is strengthened by them to be not only one of the more gruesome, flesh mutilating films of the year, but also, somehow the most romantic.
Written and directed by Michael Shanks, “Together” follows Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie), a couple rife with relationship woes driven by a toxic co-dependency. Rather than actually solve their problems through communication, they opt to move the countryside hoping that a change of scenery will help keep them together (pun intended). While on a hike, they fall into a strange cave and are trapped overnight due to a violent rainstorm. Upon escaping the cave, they find themselves changed in ways they can’t seem to explain. They constantly lose control of their bodies that physically reach out to the other, unable to be apart and drawn together whether they want to be or not. Tim and Millie must now do whatever it takes to stop this supernatural force from taking them over completely, the consequences of letting it change them unknowable, terrifying, and possibly permanent. It also stars Damon Herriman, Mia Morrissey and Jack Kenny.
The injection of relationship drama into a body horror genre flick works better than it should, providing a glimpse into a private life played out on the screen. Franco and Brie are excellent here, with Brie really shouldering most of Franco’s limited range in their shared scenes. Not that baby Franco (rocking an epic full haired mullet) is bad, just that Allison Brie is a much more varied performer and serves as glue that keeps “Together” together. It’s their undeniable chemistry on screen that allows Shanks to go wild with his more grotesque visuals, and my God does he goes for it every chance he gets.
This film is disgusting, and I mean that as the highest compliment I can give to a body horror film. You can feel the shifting and squirming in a dark theater with each escalating image, and Germain McMicking’s cinematography utilizes dark hallways and tight spaces to great effect.
Shanks really knows where to put the camera for maximum chills and frights, sweeping around its bodies as they twist and shift and pull towards the other. It’s tight and close to create unnerving claustrophobia while also explores the space of dark caves and isolated countrysides. “Together” never lingers too long but gives you just enough to feel repulsed, keeping you right on that edge of wanting to look away but needing to see what happens.
There’s a scene in a school bathroom that may be the most uncomfortable, graphic body horror sequence I’ve seen all year, gross enough to make David Cronenberg a little shifty but ultimately proud. It’s truly the most diabolical and that’s coming from a film that’s chock full of unsettling imagery. This film never relieves the visual tension even when it takes a few breaks to explore the characters themselves, continuously escalating the nature and drastic fusions that power the visceral imagery.
Shanks doesn’t seem too concerned with explaining the film’s lore, which opens it up to having a divisive reaction based on how bought in you are to the premise. The entire gory concept is only half explained, and it’s climax hurdles towards a nice, neat bow a little too cleanly for something so bloody and messy.
While it does eventually get there, if you’re hoping for a deeper dive into what’s actually going on instead of its true focus on relationships and toxicity of co-dependency, you could find yourself wanting in the end. It’s genre blends don’t really allow it to focus on both, despite both drama and body horror fusing together to create something familiar yet new. And yes, that’s ultimately what this film is about, unfolding with confidence and purpose even if it leaves some viewers wanting more of one and less of the other and vise-versa. There’s some subplots that don’t seem necessary, namely Tim’s childhood trauma that feel included simply to add more jump scares and gross out visuals, but “Together’s” abandonment of this is overshadowed by many of the other things it does incredibly well.
Horror has had a bit of lackluster year in 2025, and “Together” easily leap frogs many of the more mid outings to the top of the best of list. While there are some that are going to be very hard to beat (“Sinners” remains undefeated) it remains one of the better horror films of the year, one of the better body horror films out there, and oddly one of the best date night movies of the year, too. Of course, that’s assuming both of you can stomach the brutality here, and I’d bet that most couples don’t have two bloodthirsty macabre chasing horror lovers holding hands hoping their bodies also start to do weird shit. If you can though, there’s some profundity explored about long term relationships rarely examined even in the best of the romance driven dramas.
Co-dependency and sacrifice of ourselves to meld our lives with someone else – even when that someone may not be the right one – is at the core of “Together,” and asks a simple question in the most odious ways: what you do to be with the person you love?
I enjoyed the hell out of “Together,” a wild, repugnant (again, compliment) ride that left me squeamish and uncomfortable in the best of ways. It also sports one of the best needle drops of the entire year, and I can’t even begin to describe how hard I laughed.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
“Together” is now playing in theaters. You can watch the trailer below.
