Hands up if you like a bit of body horror? No one? Well, I do, and I watched Together, a new body horror movie, which has been compared to The Substance.
The movie stars Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Damon Herriman, Mia Morrissey, Karl Richmond, Jack Kenny, Francesca Waters, and Aljin Abella. Michael Shanks is the writer and director.
The Story
You may have seen the trailer for Together, it looked interesting. The blurb is:
Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. With tensions already flaring, an encounter with an unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love and their flesh.
We open in a forest, where there is a search for some missing people. Two dogs end up in a cave and drink from a pool of water. The dogs end up ‘acting weird’ and then mess together, aka, The Thing. Weirdly, The Thing did it better and better effects.
We then meet Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie), who are having issues with their relationship, so they head to the countryside. If any movies have taught me anything, it’s that relationships are sorted in the countryside. Well, either sort out their relationship or die in a horrible, horrible way.
While out walking one day, they fall into a pit and end up trapped. They end up drinking some of the water. While sleeping, Tim wakes up and sees the cave ‘breathing’. They get out and everything is fine, the end.
Don’t Leave Me
No, that’s not the end, it turns out Tim starts to miss Millie, and I mean a lot. When she leaves one day, he’s in the shower. The further she gets away, the more he seems to enter a trance. Something is up.
Tim goes through waves of missing her, but also lusting after her. At one point, he turns up at her school, where she teaches. They have sex in the kids’ bathroom and, umm, he gets ‘stuck’ in her. It was almost like Velcro.
Things get worse as they start to realise they are drawing closer and closer together. I won’t spoil the rest, but it’s a fairly standard affair, with a fitting conclusion. I think there’s supposed to be a shock ending, but it wasn’t that big of a shock, not to me anyway.
The Cast
Here is the problem with Together: it’s Franco. Brie is always good, and she plays her character well. However, she has to play Millie opposite Tim.
Dave Franco is the brother of James Franco. James is hit and miss, but he’s generally very good. Dave is what you get when you order James from Temu. I’ve never seen Dave as an outstanding actor, just a good one, at best.
Tim really took me out of the movie; Franco’s acting was just not very good. At one point, he gives a monologue about Tim’s parents. I know I shouldn’t, but I couldn’t help but laugh at it, as it was delivered so badly.
You know the monologue from Jaws, where Quint talks about the USS Indianapolis? During that scene, you are ‘in the water’ with Quint and hooked on every word. Franco’s speech is nothing like that.
Body Horror
As I said, people were comparing this to The Substance. In The Substance, there were some awesome visuals, some genuine body horror and boobs, lots of boobs. In Together, the body horror is well done, but it’s not the same.
There is a great scene where they both wake up, and their arms are fused together. The best way to get themselves apart? An electric saw is the best solution; it was pretty hardcore.
Overall
I don’t know how many times I’ve said this this year, but Together is a good idea, just badly executed. If you recast Franco, you would have had a completely different movie. I’ve always said that an actor is only as good as the director.
The visuals and the story are solid from Shanks, but his work with Franco is the letdown. I think he was miscast and, for me, it really took me out of the movie. It was a real shame as everything else works.
Together is a dark comedy; it’s got a decent story, and it finishes it nicely, not brilliantly, just nicely. I know people have been raving about it, ‘The best horror movie of the year’ and all that, but it’s just mid.
I’m giving Together a middle-of-the-road 2.5 stars out of 5. It’s a good idea, fairly original, but one of the main cast members really takes you out of it.
Together is on VoD.
