Call it David Cronenberg-lite. "Together" is the latest serving of body-horror-crossed-with-relationship tale that doesn't go nearly as off the rails as Cronenberg might have. That is not a disservice to the movie which is spectacularly acted with brio and urgency by its two married leads, Dave Franco and Alison Brie. Without them, there is no movie and thus this couple will not stick like glue.
Tim (Dave Franco) has a fractured, uneasy relationship with his partner, Millie (Alison Brie). You know times have changed when, in our current century of uncertainty when it comes to romantic principles, Millie can't refer to Tim as a boyfriend but only as a "partner." This couple is ready to move and experience country living where Millie has a job as a schoolteacher and Tim has aspirations of performing his music with a possible label and tour ahead. In one of many uncomfortable moments between the couple (and us the audience), Millie bends on one knee and proposes with a pantomime gesture of opening a box with a ring in front of their friends. Call me old-fashioned but I always thought men were supposed to do this but, as I said, times have changed. Nevertheless, Tim takes one extra beat before he responds and all I could think was, AWKWARD.
After settling in to a country home, things get even more awry. Tim finds some dead rats in a ceiling light that brings up uncomfortable past memories. Tim is unresponsive to sleeping with his own "partner," but he does relent when asked by Millie to go on a small hike through the outside woods. During this hike, the twosome fall through a hole in the ground with a nearby pool of ultra clear water that probably should be avoided. Millie refuses to drink from it yet Tim doesn't listen and situations go from bad to worse. Call it clinginess to an extent most couples do not usually endure. I mean, how often are your hands fused with someone else's accidentally? And let's not get started on what goes on between two people going at it in a restroom stall.
"Together" is the type of unrelenting, nerve-frying horror film that leaves your stomach in knots. It starts out as a horror film (with more than little nod to Carpenter's "The Thing") yet it is also a domestic drama of a codependent relationship and that adds to its raw power. Still, nothing that occurs on screen is for the faint-hearted (and not even the nuanced, disquieting performance by Damon Herriman as Millie's colleague and neighbor). There are scenes that are unsettling and awkward dialed up to 111, especially some queasy nightmare moments that had me grabbing my seat. Aussie director Michael Shanks pulls all the stops here for horror enthusiasts yet he also shows a welcome modicum of restraint for body-horror fans (are there that many?) Shanks recognizes the cardinal rule in any horror flick - you must empathize with the victims before they are shanghaied into unimaginable terrors. Color me impressed by Dave Franco and Alison Brie who make a credible codependent couple who have trouble making an emotional and physical connection. Brie's Millie wants to get closer to Tim yet his memories of finding his dead father with his conscious mother has him all riled up and closed-off. The water he consumed has made things worse for his anxiety and inexplicably made him closer to Millie. Maybe a tad too close for comfort.
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