Get ready for a sticky situation as Horror Movie Talk reviews Together, the latest horror movie starring Alison Brie and Dave Franco.

Synopsis

Long time unmarried couple Tim and Millie move to a rural town to follow a job opportunity for Millie. Tim leaves behind his circle of friends and his stalled career as a performing musician behind in the city. The stress of the move, sexual troubles, and recent trauma put a strain on their relationship, but they remain committed to each other. 

When they go on a hike near their house marked by bells, they stumble into a sunken cave. After drinking from the pool of water in the cave, Tim and Millie get into a sticky situation, and Tim begins to compulsively follow Millie around town.

Review of Together

If you’ve seen the trailer of the movie, you get the basic premise: parts of their bodies get stuck together and they find it hard to separate. But instead of treating it like an eighties sitcom plot, it’s used as a foil for body horror.

It’s an interesting premise that is ripe for meta relationship commentary, and I was interested with where they would go with it. However, in the end, they don’t really do much with the opportunity to explore the theme of codependence and the loss of identity that can come from a long term relationship. Part of the problem is that the script keeps the relationship in the center of the movie in a weird limbo state where it’s not headed towards separation or marriage. Others might disagree, but I think choosing one or the other early on in the plot has more potential for satire and commentary. I didn’t feel like there were real stakes or an emotional core to the film.

As a result, the scenes of them getting stuck feel arbitrary and progress predictably, but don’t seem to have a lot of emotional impact. The majority of these situations are shown in the trailer, so there isn’t much surprise when they come, the only thing you get are a couple shots directly looking at the merged body parts. I wish they would have gone harder and done some more extreme and creative body horror throughout, but they leave the majority for the film's climax. In the end it’s not enough to save the lack of an emotional core or strong direction in the plot.

With recent body horror bangers like The Substance and The Ugly Stepsister, this feels like an undercooked entry into the sub-genre in comparison.

Score

5/10