The 2025 Body Horror Movie You Need To Watch If You Like The Substance

Writer-director Michael Shanks' feature debut "Together" — which is finally playing in theaters after being screened at several film festivals — skillfully foreshadows almost every uncomfortable, stomach-churning, and relationship-defying turn before they actually occur. You'd think this would be a bad thing for a horror movie (as the horror genre tends to revel in surprises), but somehow knowing a big chunk of what's coming creates an ever-growing and suffocating suspense that takes hold of you like a pair of invisible hands. From the very first scene of a pair of search dogs drinking from an underground watering hole and then acting strangely in a way that only animals in horror films do, you immediately have an almost crystal-clear idea of where "Together" is going.

Shanks doesn't employ unnecessary pseudo-mysteries or tired tricks, either. He trusts that viewers can add two and two together: body horror + a suggestive title + missing people + co-dependent couple moving to a small town drenched in eeriness = an atmospheric, disturbing, and darkly funny tale about a cracking yet maybe redeemable romantic relationship. It also doesn't matter if you can predict some of the more obvious plot twists; the question here isn't so much "Where is all this going?" as it is "How do we get to this story's inevitable ending?" Truly, the "how" is the fun part of "Together," a film that — with its delicious scares, dark jokes, and surprisingly emotional narrative — brings to mind Coralie Fargeat's own gonzo body horror flick, "The Substance."

"Together" centers on Tim (Dave Franco) and Millie (Alison Brie), a couple making the big jump: leaving the noisy city for the isolated countryside. At their farewell party, they swear to their friends they won't become strangers, but we know how this goes. Moving to a small town in any horror film is practically a death sentence, especially for a relatively young couple. So, it doesn't catch us off guard when, after the move, the two find out that a local couple disappeared in exactly their new home's neck of the woods, not long before they arrived.

Unfortunately, Tim and Millie are too distracted by their dysfunctional love life to pay much mind to this off-putting news. The former is still suffering from the PTSD of seeing his parents die while verging on a career crisis as a failing musician. Millie, on the other hand, is thriving since she just snatched a rare and well-paying teaching job at a local school. Given that they are at opposite places in their lives, the friction in their relationship is unavoidable. Not to mention that Millie proposed to Tim at that goodbye party, which caused him to totally freeze up, making her doubtful about their future. Is he ready to settle and spend the rest of his life with her despite not having realized his professional ambitions? That's a daunting question for any person in their mid-30s.

Still, Tim is trying — even if he rejects every invitation from his girlfriend to have sex on the account of his emotionally wonky headspace. Hoping to rekindle their romance, he suggests they take a stroll in the nearby woods, which quickly leads to a near-catastrophe. As a rainstorm interrupts their hike, the two fall into a cave that gives major cult vibes with ancient bells, ominous signs, and an eerie aura that creeps both them and us as viewers out. Of course, we know that place is where we previously saw the two dogs before they went wild and started to physically absorb each other's flesh. And once Tim drinks from that same watering hole (in true, mistakes-were-made horror movie fashion), we're sure what's coming will be a gooey and gory nightmare to enjoy.

Despite the film's premise riding on an absurd and uncannily amusing idea, Shanks doesn't half-ass creating a chilling and harrowing atmosphere. Awkward quarrels and bleak humor aside, "Together" is replete with a haunting, spine-tingling darkness and the unsettling footsteps of an otherworldly presence slowly approaching. There's no monster here to be seen (unless we count the debilitating and frightening commitment to a significant other), but Shanks generates stirringly effective images in the form of dreams and visions and places a few sneaky jump-scares in scenes where you'd least expect them, all the while digging a deeper and deeper hole in Tim and Millie's collapsing relationship.

It's a perfect fusion that equally furthers the plot and the characters' arcs, gradually revealing new info about the cave and its gooey matter's origin, as well as bringing us closer to Tim and Millie's deepening struggle as a couple. Speaking of which, Shanks also gets great mileage out of Franco and Brie's chemistry without even trying. No doubt, it helps that the two are married in real life, and their smooth and often sexual dynamic effortlessly pours through the screen here when it matters the most. It's why the movie's jokes and their characters' stabs at each other's flaws land with aplomb, providing a pressure release before the terror can overwhelm the viewer.

There's an argument to be made that Shanks could've gone deeper (as in, literal flesh and bone) when it comes to the movie's fairly balanced if slightly restrained gore (like, say, the way Fargeat did in "The Substance"), but the lack of truly gross-out moments doesn't hurt the film overall. What might hurt it, however, is the fact that Shanks, along with Franco and Brie (who are also producers), is facing a lawsuit of idea theft from the creatives behind the barely-seen 2023 indie rom-com "Better Half." Whether the accusation actually has a leg to stand on is a different matter entirely, but it can't overshadow that "Together" is an impressive and deliciously bizarro feature debut by a promising up-and-coming Australian filmmaker.

"Together" is now playing in theaters.