A One Mann’s Movies review of “Together” (2025, 4*, 15).
Ambassador…. you are really spoiling us.
This quote from that famous Ferrero Rocher TV ad recently came to my mind. For 2025 must be going down as a really golden year for innovative horror movies. Earlier in the year we had Robert Egger’s dramatic new take on “Nosferatu“; the sophisticated AI chills of “Companion“; the fun splatter-fests of “The Monkey” and “Clown in a Cornfield“; the delicious Indian chills of “Sister Midnight“; the underrated “The Woman in the Yard“; and more recently Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners“; the brilliant “Hallow Road“; Danny Boyle’s very different “28 Years Later“; the Phillipou Brother’s wonderfully dark “Bring Her Back” and (still in cinemas) the joy that is “Weapons“. And now we have “Together” – something very different yet again.
Phew! What a list! My Top 20 is going to be much more of a challenge that usual this year.
This is the debut feature as writer/director for new kid-on-the-block Michael Shanks which was positively snapped up by Neon at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (allegedly the “biggest acquisition” of the film festival). Based on this work, Shanks will likely be – as for the Phillipou brothers – another big Australian name to watch out for in the future.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
The long-term relationship of Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Allison Brie) is reaching a crisis point. After the horrific loss of his parents, Tim is barely functioning while Millie is a driven and ambitious schoolteacher moving to a small upstate community in the wilds. But when the pair explore their local woods they stumble on a secret that will change their relationship forever.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Strong horror, violence, bloody images, sex, nudity, language”.)
Talent:
Starring: Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Damon Herriman, Mia Morrissey.
Directed by: Michael Shanks.
Written by: Michael Shanks.
Running Time: 1h 42m.
Summary:
Positives:
- Genuinely cringe-worthy body-horror.
- Great central performances by Franco and Brie.
- A memorable and tense final moment.
Negatives:
- If I was a medical doctor, I would have questions!
Full Review of “Together”:
Just don’t drink the water.
This film will, I think, go down on the list of great body-horror films alongside the likes of “The Fly” and “The Thing”. The overall concept is well-thought-through and equally well-executed.
We have, of course, seen the “remote house in the woods” meme played out in so many countless films (in the last year alone, “Wolf Man” and “Never Let Go“) that my heart sank a bit that we were going there again. But in this case, the location is kind of justified and the reveal of the McGuffin (in this case, McGuffin-juice) is nicely done and quite touching. (Although, I have to observe that drinking potentially dodgy water from a pool instead of from the streams of rainwater pouring into the cave is a bit on the daft side!)
Cringe. Much!
Before we ever get to any of the real body horror, the film plays with the mental anguish of physical separation: an angle I really wasn’t expecting. The ‘togetherness’ is as much a mental thing in the first half of the film as it is a physical thing and a scene set at a country station is cleverly and artfully done.
But when the sexually inert Tim becomes suddenly enthusiastic and ‘gets it on’ with the sex-starved Millie, it is – albeit predictable – one of those moments that will make male and female viewers alike watch through webbed fingers. (Sic.. that joke (C) Rev Andy Godfrey).
Things then go from bad to worse…. the early reference in the film to the electric lopping-saw illustrates that we might at some point be ending up in “127 Hours” territory! (A film that ironically starred Dave Franco’s brother James.) At this point, medical reality needs to firmly take a back seat. Many doctors in the audience will have to resist the urge to shout out “COME ON, REALLY?!”.
Brie and Franco deliver well.
Aside from a well-cast friendly neighbour Jamie (Damon Herriman), a now-single gay-man (but yet still sexually attractive to the utterly desperate Millie!), this is really a two-hander between Alison Brie and Dave Franco. And a great job they do with it, particularly I thought Alison Brie (“Freelance“, “Promising Young Woman“) who delivers just the right balance of fear and determination.
Needle-drop of the year.
A special note of appreciation to Michael Shank’s script for delivering to us one of the most hilarious needle-drops of the year: a song that is not only spicy but ridiculously appropriate!
The denouement is fun.
Many horror films of this type struggle to come up with a really satisfactory finale. Normally, the peril passes; the evil is defeated; and our hero/heroine walks back to reality with just a whole heap of counselling required. This movie neatly delivers us something very different in the finale… a final bolt of tension before a final shot that delivers a fine payoff. Bravo Mr Shanks, Bravo!
Summary Thoughts:
Given it is a relatively ‘small’ film, I initially gave this a 3.5 star rating. But then I thought, “no”. Innovation requires reward, and this story, and its execution by Michael Shanks, is something really special. Well worth your time and attention if you are a horror fan.
The film, by the way, is not without some controversy. A suit for copyright infringement has been levelled against Franco and Brie – co-producers for the film – by a couple of writers Jess Jacklin and Charles Beale. They claim that in 2020 they approached Franco with their script for their film “Better Half” (a film later directed by Patrick Henry Phelan in 2023, that rather disappeared without a trace in comparison). They claim that the film bears striking similarities to “Together”… even though “Better Half” was billed as a satirical romantic comedy rather than a horror. According to this article in Cosmopolitan magazine, the case is still ongoing.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Xu-jxRG5c.
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