Summary
A queasy body-horror debut about love, need, and not letting go. Even when you probably should.
It’s not often a debut director comes out of the gate with such a high-profile film, although some of the publicity around TOGETHER is probably not what anyone intended. Australian filmmaker Michael Shanks, best known for The Wizards of Aus, uses the opportunity to explore codependency through the time-honoured lens of body horror.
Long-term duo Tim and Millie (real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie) have just moved to the country to take the next step in their life, or possibly just restart it. Their sex life is non-existent, Tim’s music career has stalled, and he’s increasingly leaning on Millie, who’s busy with a new teaching job and an enthusiastic coworker/neighbour (Damon Herriman).
After a misadventure in the woods, where the pair get trapped in a Gigeresque cave, they begin to experience disturbing physical symptoms. A gooey substance intermittently fuses them together. Tim deteriorates when Millie goes to work. Their dreams turn somnambulistic, and the edges of reality start to blur. Is Tim spiralling, or is something more sinister happening?
There’s not a lot of subtext to Shanks’s script. This is separation anxiety writ gory. For the most part, it works, especially early on, when the mystery unfolds with a good balance of unease and jump scares. Two standout sequences—a bathroom scene that redefines the term “stuck on you” and a squirm-inducing nighttime merge—had a festival audience giggling, gasping, and occasionally walking out. All good signs.
But once the premise is clear, the film becomes more predictable. Shanks telegraphs some of the later shocks, including one major needle drop. A subplot involving Tim’s family history, which fuels some early scares, is mostly abandoned in the second half. As the story shifts gears and the external threat is revealed (or for most audiences, simply confirmed), it falls into more familiar territory.
Franco and Brie are an always compelling pair, reteaming after their recent professional collaboration on Somebody I Used to Know, and their chemistry grounding even the most outlandish moments. Herriman, meanwhile, is creepy even when he’s just being Ned Flanders, which might also be exactly why he’s unnerving.
At time of writing, TOGETHER is the subject of a lawsuit from the makers of Better Half, who allege it’s a “blatant rip-off.” I haven’t seen the earlier film and can’t comment on that, but Shanks is clearly drawing from a deep well (pun intended) of body horror tradition, as most filmmakers do. Regardless of the controversy, TOGETHER is a solid debut with a strong central idea, and one that mostly sticks the landing. Plus, you may never listen to the Spice Girls the same way again.
2025 | USA | DIRECTOR: Michael Shanks | WRITERS: Michael Shanks | CAST: Alison Brie, Dave Franco, Damon Herriman | DISTRIBUTOR: Sydney Film Festival 2025, NEON (USA), Kismet Movies (Australia) | RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 4-15 June 2025 (SFF 2025), 30 July 2025 (USA), 31 July 2025 (Australia)
