'Together' has Dave Franco and Alison Brie in a gripping new horror movie that's 'The Substance' meets rom-com

Tom's Guide

4 days ago

I've had my eye on "Together" since it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year. A body horror movie about a couple who are forcibly — and literally — stuck together? Played by real-life husband-and-wife duo Dave Franco and Alison Brie? Needless to say, I was sold right away.
It also didn't hurt that the early reviews were overwhelmingly positive. It was the first movie to sell at Sundance, and currently, it has a 91% "fresh" rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, with audiences not far behind at 79%.
I finally got to see the movie earlier this week, and it doesn't quite fully commit to being a body horror movie. "Together" is more of a romantic comedy at times, with some horror movie sheen to it and a supernatural element that drives the plot forward.
While I'm not quite sure it lives up to the hype, I had a blast and left the theater satisfied. I'd have liked more commitment to the horror genre, but the rom-com elements work thanks to Franco and Brie's natural chemistry as a married couple, especially as the movie approaches its climax.
As I mentioned, "Together" is a body horror movie, starring the real-life couple of Dave Franco and Alison Brie as fictional couple Tim and Millie. And they are in a rut.
But when Millie gets a teaching job that moves them out of the city and into the countryside, it provides them with an opportunity to rekindle their relationship. Or rather, it would if this were a romantic comedy.
It's not, though — at least, not fully. "Together" is a horror movie at heart, and on a hike, the pair gets lost in the ruins of what feels like a church that collapsed into a cave. After they get back home, they suddenly find they can't keep their hands off each other — literally.
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I'll fully admit, I went into this movie expecting "The Substance" 2.0, or at least something along those lines.
"Together" will have you laugh, it'll have you jump and it will have you on the edge of your seat. It's definitely worth a visit to your local cinema.
You do get a few moments that allow the movie to call itself body horror. Tim and Millie get stuck together at times, with their hands even managing to crawl under each other's skin on occasion. And at one point, we do see a creature that is doing its best impression of Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley's final form in Coralie Fargeat's body horror masterpiece.
But this is not "The Substance." Yes, there's occasional body horror, but there are also elements of psychological horror as well as occult and supernatural plot elements.
It also feels like a rom-com at times. The movie is, at its core, centered around the relationship between Tim and Millie. The plot of the movie may be about two people stumbling upon a supernatural force that tries to force them to physically meld into one being, but the story of the movie is about a couple in a rut who, through a harrowing journey, are brought closer together.
For what it's worth, that story does work. The romantic comedy at the core of this movie is a good one, and the melding of horror elements makes it fun and relatively fresh in terms of the rom-com genre, even if it's a relatively tame horror movie.
So my advice is to just go into this movie with the proper expectations, even though, in fairness, I went in with gory aspirations that weren't met and still had a great time. "Together" will have you laugh, it'll have you jump and it will have you on the edge of your seat. It's definitely worth a visit to your local cinema.
Malcolm has been with Tom's Guide since 2022, and has been covering the latest in streaming shows and movies since 2023. He's not one to shy away from a hot take, including that "John Wick" is one of the four greatest films ever made.
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