Together

When “Happily Ever After” Becomes a Grotesque Dark‑Comedy of Melting Skins.

Lately, filmmakers seem intent on dismantling the fairy tales we grew up with—those sugar‑spun fables that promise happiness through love, Prince Charming, and the perfect blonde serving girl.

But the truth is far less magical: love can be toxic, suffocating, even destructive. The Spice Girls 2 Become 1 sounds sweet until you realise the merge can be as much a loss of self as it is a fusion.

Michael Shanks’ debut feature, “Together,” isn’t interested in love as salvation. It’s about what happens when the glue binding two people together is fear—fear of abandonment, fear of change, fear of stepping into the unknown.

Praised as one of the year’s standout horrors, it’s less a straight genre piece and more a relationship drama wearing body‑horror’s skin.

Some have even called it a rip‑off of the 2023 film “Better Half” (directed by Patrick Henry Phelan)—a romantic comedy that never saw release beyond festival screenings and is now tangled in a legal dispute with the Together production.

Both films nod to Plato’s Symposium, making the similarities hard to ignore. However, director Michael Shanks has said in a public post that Together came from a deeply personal place.

Allegations of plagiarism have taken an emotional toll, and my aim here isn’t to assign blame. In my view, similar ideas can emerge independently, without one being stolen from the other.

If nothing else, “Together” might revive interest in getting “Better Half” into cinemas or onto streaming.

“Together” introduces Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Alison Brie), who cling to each other not out of love, but fear. Their physical and emotional fusion is both unsettling and grotesque, confirming that being together may never have been the right choice.

It’s a clear commentary on toxic co‑dependency and relationships that drag on long past their expiry date. The problem is that, while the intention is obvious, the execution wobbles.

Without spoiling specifics, the ending veers into an oddly hesitant take on love and self‑perception—as if the film itself got cold feet about embracing its bleakest truths and instead indulged a softer, messier reality.

As one of my most anticipated films of the year—and, unfortunately, another in a run of disappointments—“Together” never quite delivers on its promise.

Horror fans hoping for a visceral body‑horror feast will find little here: what’s present is minimal and, thanks to unconvincing skin‑blending CGI, rarely impressive.

Yes, it’s an indie, but for a NEON production I expected more polish and greater attention to creating something that feels authentic. It’s the kind of film you’ll either love or hate.

I lean toward the latter, though not without regret. There are flashes of wit, and it may resonate more with younger viewers or seasoned horror fans willing to overlook its shortcomings.

The dark humour works sporadically, mirroring the imperfect horror, but the tonal whiplash in its final moments—when it briefly forgets what it is—undercuts its strongest ideas.

The icy colour palette and grounded relationship drama clash awkwardly with its wilder impulses. In horror, the ability to provoke both laughter and dread marks true mastery.

“Together” hovers in the uncomfortable space between them, never quite hitting either note as sharply as it should.

The thematic debates in “Together” are valid, and spark a contemporary, messed‑up conversation—a reminder that in the real world, happy endings aren’t guaranteed—and maybe that’s the point.

WATCHED AT:

LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL 78