There is something undeniable strange about what is happening to people in a dedicated relationship. It is easy for some form of co-dependence to appear, and it is disturbing to find the feeling for itself to become so interchangeable. For those of us see that two people are becoming a couple, they may feel like they see some transformation slowly; The person you knew before was starting to dress and act differently, and in some extreme cases, it may even start thinking differently. Although even the healthiest long -term connection involves a certain version of addiction, it is more likely that it happens so gradual and unnoticeable that no one can notice it. However, what if that addiction was to be externalized? What if, for example, the desire and the need you may need to be with your personality was not only emotional but physical?

It is essentially the premise of "Together", a new comedy for the body's horror from the writer and director for the first time Michael Hanks. To a great deal thank you for success (not to mention Nominations for Academy Award) for Last year the "substance", The horror of the body has a main moment, and it is probably part of why Neon has decided to win the film during the Sundance Film Festival this week for distribution in August this year. That does not mean to say "together" fails on its merits. Far from it, because the film is loaded with a set of pieces that are largely delivered, thanks to the dedicated work of Dave Franco and Allison Bri. While "Together" can be a little rotate and feel like keeping us GoreHound Sicko Horror Freaks, he undoubtedly delivers a general audience, which means it's a pretty great movie for Gateway's horror for the uninitiated.

Immediately from the opening moments, "together" sets a high strip for himself by returning several films to the body. During a search in the forest of a small town in Newoufor for a missing pedestrian couple, the dog's dogs come to the rubble of an old church that has fallen into the ground, with a strange irrigation hole in his center that looks very reminiscent of a location in Alex Garland's "destruction". After both dogs drink from mysterious water, man returns home, upset why they now seem intensively stare at each other. Soon, something happens to dogs reminiscent of the starting moments of Johnon Carpenter's "The Thing" And it is clear before all human characters start giving an exhibition that something in that water can make two living creatures uncontrollably physically.

Then we are familiar with our protagonist couple: a successful school teacher, Million (Allison Bri) and her thirty-thing that is a man-child, Bio, Tim (Dave Franco). The two look inseparable to their friends, but everything is not behind closed doors, as Tim is increasingly captured in their relationship as Millie feels more like a mother replacement. The two have not led a Loveub for a long time, the problem only worsens the still -related death of the team's parents (blinks we see in many "Midmar" fashion, with those images most nightmaring in the whole movie). After a shamefully tricky marriage proposal, Tim and Millie moved to a house in that small town on the aperture. Milli is taking a new job at a local school, attracting the attention of a lonely older teacher and neighbor, Jameimi (Damon Heriman), while Tim insists on trying to return his music career by traveling and back to New York. One day, the couple tries to return their spark by going to the hike in the nearby forest only to accidentally stumble in those ruins during a storm. Since the two are forced to wait for the storm overnight, a team runs away from water, causing it to use that liquid pool.

Therefore, we are in the races and admire, thrilling does not waste time to bring the iccup. That said, the film spends some time with neither a team nor Milly is aware of what is happening and why, what leaves us to wait for the protagonists to play a little too long. Fortunately, the set pieces of Shanks and his team have emerged are enough to deter the conspiracy mechanics, as each sequence is built on the fever and delivers the tricky promise of the premise. To be witty: If you doubt what can happen when a couple is infected with something trying to merge their bodies together, it finally makes the unpleasant, you will get your answers, and then some.

Hanks can clearly mix the horror and comedy, keeping things funny, while never allowing to reduce tension, and it is a technique that allows him to play an audience as a puzzle. "Together" is one of those commercial horror films where you can literally watch the audience responding to duet; Screams, laughs and care all come as the audience to repeat beforehand. As a director of craftsmen, the shanks are undoubtedly characterized, receiving the issues of logic and rules by that every new problem team and Milli have to face to feel as emotionally true as possible.

If there is one major damage to the film, it is that the material never breaks through the surface, the film is literally and figuratively deep on the skin. That's not to say that there are no substance here - topics such as parental problems of a children's team, the Milli needs are manifested as too large, and other such elements make cultures, and they are very welcome when they do. Unfortunately, once the dilemma of the body's horror, the couple becomes a constant instead of an alternating problem, it feels like much of their personal drama being waving - the perfectly timed line of dialogue from Bri essentially closes the emotional tension between the duo and while doing A huge laughter line, it dramatically feels like too much missed opportunity.

By essentially lowering the ball of the roses's war between the couple at that moment, leaving the substance "together", coming through casting to real -life partners Bri and Franco. This is the second horror movie they starred together (the following 2020s in Franco-Deli "Rent"), making them a kind With the Kassetsets and Genena Rowlands of Indian horror. There is a special Frison that the film knows that we see two people who really know each other intimately through such madness, and until it is the same tension on the screen as in, say, Kubrick's "eyes widely closed", It is impressive how clear the game and the dedicated Franco and Bri, the film and each other.

How much "together" is under your skin probably much depends on the status of your relationship. For single people, it's a small film but a cat, which has characters that look strange and irrational long before someone drinks magic water. For those in a relationship, I would dare to assume that it could disrupt them a little more, causing them to rethink their partnership status and argue with the recognition of the couple's behavior or to feel superior to them, in Depending on their circumstances.

In any case, both single people and couples can enjoy "together" the way they feel as if it is designed to enjoy: as a stormy, fun, naughty date night horror film in the cinema. While the film has its pleasures on its own, its effect is absolutely increased by seeing it with the right audience. That way, I guess the film has a sly, subversive context of it: after these few years of relative isolation, where it feels like people get used to individual experiences, here's a movie that feeds our fear of others, like And they strengthen our need to share our lives with someone else. No matter how much you can fully understand that person next to you, it turns out that "together" is best experienced, well, together.

/Movie rating: 8 out of 10

"Together" premieres at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025. Wille opened in theaters on August 1, 2025.