Dave Franco and Alison Brie seem to have a pretty good marriage in real life; it’s good enough, at least, for both of them to star in new horror film Together. In the movie, on the other hand, it may just be what dooms them both.
The new body horror film from writer-director Michael Shanks originally premiered at Sundance and went on to screen at SXSW last week. The A.V. Club staff writer Saloni Gajjar attended one of those screenings and warned that it’s best to go into this one with as little knowledge as possible, a philosophy Neon—which won the buzzy film over other interested buyers like A24 and Mubi—seems to share. The newly released teaser doesn’t show many of its cards. In fact, the only spoken words in the whole thing are “I love you” from Franco and an “I love you, too” from Brie in response.
Even if the tease here is pretty vague (shout out once again to Neon’s excellent marketing team), its implications are horrifying. “Years into their relationship, Tim (Franco) and Millie (Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other,” the film’s logline reads. “With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish supernatural encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.” Based solely on a freaky child’s drawing of two dogs morphed together in a way that vaguely resembles Monstro Elisasue from The Substance, as well as the title’s seemingly deliberate kerning (not to mention the title itself), it appears that these two lovers may get close in a way they never thought possible before.
That’s what happened in real life at least, albeit in a more emotional than “flesh corrupting” sense. “We joked this either ends in divorce or we’re more co-dependent than ever,” Franco told Deadlineof the pair’s decision to sign on for the film. “Luckily it was the latter.” At least someone got a happy ending.
