WSB x Moving Picture Review: Together

“I 19f want to crawl into my boyfriend’s skin.” So begins a reddit post in r/relationship_advice which serves as a prime example of a feeling that either describes a harmless case of “cute aggression” or a worrying symptom of codependency, depending on who you ask. It also serves as a fitting setup for writer-director Michael Shanks’s debut feature, Together, starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie. Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie) are leaving the city to a secluded house in the woods for Millie’s new job at a local elementary school and (at least in part) to jumpstart their decade-long relationship.

At the heart of their tension is Tim’s apparent reliance on Millie—both financially, because Tim’s career as a musician has stalled, and logistically, because once out of their urban neighborhood, the licenseless Tim will need to lean on Millie’s support more than ever. Tim, meanwhile, has physically and emotionally withdrawn from his partner, as he tries to find his footing in their relationship while dealing with some unresolved trauma from his past. Pushing back against his dependence on her, he takes one final stab at his music career before their move by accepting a touring gig with his friends, whose band is short a guitarist.

Dave Franco and Alison Brie in Together (2025). Image via IMDb.

Once at their new home, and despite their thinly veiled optimism, things begin to fall apart, starting with a rank smell, leading Tim to discover an undoubtedly bad omen and a clever use of foreshadowing: a “king of rats” (a rare, but real phenomenon in which the tails of several rats inadvertently become entangled, fatally knotting them together) hidden above a hallway light fixture. The couple then take the advice of one of Millie’s coworkers and neighbor Jamie (Damon Herriman), and explore one of the many hiking trails through the woods, which goes quickly south (even though Tim definitely knows which direction is North) when they lose the trail and fall into a cavernous sinkhole. With night already falling and at the mercy of the freak rainstorm raging outside, the pair decide to huddle down for the night and wait out the weather, unknowingly unleashing the relentless body horror to come.

What’s most impressive about Together isn’t its seamless transition between visual and special effects—which are some of the best looking effects I’ve seen in years—but Shanks’s ability to articulate the anxieties of a long-term relationship between two people who find themselves at a crossroads in their lives. Millie’s attempt to take their relationship to the next level seems less like a heartfelt commitment than it does a hail mary to rekindle a passion that they no longer feel, while Tim’s reservations—about the move, about Millie’s proposal, about his career—mask an unwillingness or inability to reconcile his own needs with those of their relationship. Their troubles, even when things turn really, really ugly, are strangely relatable to anyone who's found themselves questioning their role in a relationship or who’s struggled with maintaining their sense of self when a relationship seems to be pulling both partners in toward a gravitational center.

While the relationship drama is the heart of the story, though, the fantastic body horror is the glue that holds it together. Larry Van Duynhoven, whose special effects and prosthetics pedigree includes credits in films like Bring Her Back, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, and The Invisible Man, not to mention his early career work on films like Lake Mungo and The Loved Ones, is given free rein in Together, letting his imagination run rampant. Combined with the visual effects experience that Shanks was able to bring to the table, Together is one of the best examples of what the right mix of visual and special effects can do for a film, allowing the shocking twisting and melting of flesh without sacrificing the tactility and realism of in-camera makeup. 

What may not be immediately apparent, from the trailers nor by reactions to the horror elements, is that this film is also funny. It understands the absurdity of its conceit and, while it treats the situation that Tim and Millie find themselves in with appropriate seriousness, it’s not afraid to lean into the ridiculousness, either. It is sincere in its approach, and the lived chemistry that real-life couple Franco and Brie bring to their roles has me wondering if there was a bit of catharsis in playing the characters, but much like The Substance—a fellow masterclass in practical effects—Together reminds us that not only can horror gross us out and make us cringe, it can make us jump in our seats, but it doesn’t have to be a marathon of torture and pain. It can also be a damn good time.

Where to watch Together:

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WSB x Moving Picture Reviews is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival. The Pittsburgh Moving Picture Festival celebrates both the art of cinema and the rich motion picture exhibition tradition of the City of Pittsburgh. Our goal in this series is to highlight new and upcoming genre films and, wherever possible, to support local, independent movie theaters in the process.

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Article Written by Ande Thomas

Ande loves the intersection of sci-fi and horror, where our understanding of the natural world clashes with our fear of the new and unknown. He is an independent member of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies and a supporting member of the Horror Writers Association. He writes about monsters and foreign horror and can also be found over on Letterboxd.

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