Collectively overview – codependent relationship physique horror is a enjoyable trip | Sundance 2025

Everyone knows {couples} like Tim and Millie. By no means an I, all the time a we. By no means a right away reply, all the time an “I ought to most likely examine with him/her first.” By no means alone, all the time collectively.

Your preliminary view, or extra possible judgment, of their relationship might be going to rely by yourself, and within the under-the-radar Sundance horror Collectively, the first-time writer-director Michael Shanks invitations us into their stifling two-person world to make up our personal thoughts. They’re performed by the real-life husband and spouse Alison Brie and Dave Franco, who additionally starred collectively within the far much less pleasing thriller The Rental, a movie stuffed with empty recycling with the pretence of one thing new. There’s far much less pretentiousness and much more originality right here, regardless of the plot kicking off with the outdated “going from town to the nation to begin a brand new life” trope. For Tim and Millie, it’s including additional distance from them and people round and at a going away get together, there are already cracks beneath the smugness, tensions which can be solely barely masked by the unintentionally cute matching outfits.

They’re shifting for Millie’s job as a result of she does in spite of everything have a job, in contrast to Tim whose goals of being a working musician have gotten extra embarrassing with age and whereas it’s not too removed from town for him to nonetheless gig, it’s far sufficient (Tim can’t even drive, however Millie can). It’s clear that Tim is dropping management of who he’s and dropping sight of who he might change into, certainly one of his associates cruelly quipping: “After I die, I don’t wish to see another person’s life flash earlier than my eyes”.

However whereas the movie would possibly appear to be taking place a well-recognized, arguably sexist path (nagging, clingy lady who has it collectively v cucked slacker man-child who simply can’t hold it collectively), Shanks quickly switches the dynamic. Whereas taking a hike close to their idyllic, credulity-stretching new home (on a trainer’s wage!), the pair come across a hidden construction. To the movie’s credit score, their decision-making is then unusually rooted in actuality, as an accident strands them underground for the evening and thirst forces Tim to drink from a neatly positioned pool of water. It shifts one thing in a single day, the pair waking up with their legs barely caught collectively (Tim suggests mildew) and after they unstick and make it again residence, Tim’s behaviour turns unusual. The area he had grown to need from Millie will get solid apart for an all-consuming must be along with her. Phrases like “it’s painful to be away from you” and “perhaps splitting now would harm much less” all of the sudden tackle a nasty new which means.

There’s one thing refreshingly blunt about what Collectively is attempting to say concerning the risks of codependency, a movie too busy having enjoyable to waste time writing a self-satisfied dissertation. Shanks teases one thing extra derivatively on pattern with Tim experiencing flashes of grim Midsommar-like household trauma however he’s not considering protecting us within the miserable murk like so lots of his style friends. It’s a movie that’s taken nearly the appropriate stage of significantly, setting clear emotional stakes and avoiding wink-wink jokes but by no means forgetting its place (it rightfully premiered throughout the Midnight part at Sundance). Given its flesh-stretching, bone-crunching physique horror, there might be inevitable comparisons to the awfully overrated Oscar darling The Substance (the press tour has already invited them), however I’d say there’s a clearer, smarter and much tighter film right here, Shanks extra conscious of the way to set and preserve guidelines and construction.

He’s additionally extremely conscious of the way to direct a industrial horror movie, Collectively trying as crisp, glossy and well-lit as those who got here from an earlier decade (the producer Erik Feig, whose credit embrace I Know What You Did Final Summer season and Mistaken Flip, might have helped there too). He is aware of the way to play with darkness and sound design, relying solely on a few soar shocks, selecting the heightened sounds of Tim and Millie’s altering our bodies to place us on edge. Brie and Franco, making full use of the candy and bitter of their actual lived-in chemistry, deal with smugly in love in addition to they do furiously on the sting and have enjoyable with some wild, gasp-inducing moments, akin to a nightmarishly uncomfortable intercourse scene.

An issue with a movie with such a artful premise is that there are such a lot of extra issues that might have been executed to increase the strain, particularly psychologically, and the push by way of probably the most attention-grabbing part, as tense couple arguments go from nasty to gnarly, means we’re lacking extra of the interior horror. There are additionally inevitable points with a shaky final act, Shanks like so many others struggling to tie issues up, stumbling with conveniently found clues and a few hokey, question-demanding rationalization, virtually leaving a messy bow on a pristinely wrapped reward. However a foolish, splashy remaining bid for viral consideration largely works and helps to verify what Collectively finally works finest as: a convincingly gory argument for being single.