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Posted in: Movies, NEON | Tagged: film, horror, NEON, Together!
Together Director Talks Star Trek Influences
Together director Michael Shanks reveals how the body-horror imagery of Star Trek: First Contact inspired the Dave Franco and Alison Brie film.
Article Summary
- Together director Michael Shanks credits Star Trek: First Contact as a major body-horror influence.
- Dave Franco and Alison Brie star as a couple facing surreal transformations in their countryside retreat.
- The film blends practical effects and dark humor to explore codependency and grotesque intimacy.
- Shanks mixes grounded emotion and midnight-movie thrills for a unique relationship body horror.
Together is a tender-and-gnarly relationship/body horror film about Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie), longtime partners whose attempt to escape city life takes them to an isolated countryside home. What begins as a hopeful, fresh start quickly curdles when they encounter a mysterious force that reshapes their bodies as ruthlessly as it tests their bond.
At first, the changes are subtle—odd compulsions, fleeting moments of disorientation—but soon they escalate into grotesque fusions and uncanny transformations. Shanks leans into practical effects and uncomfortable intimacy, turning codependency into a condition. Staged as an intense two-hander, the film also mixes sickly humor with genuine ache, allowing Franco and Brie to fully inhabit the push-pull of a couple trying desperately to hold together while their flesh, quite literally, won't let go. And now, Shanks is getting candid about one of the more unexpected influences that shaped the film.
Together Director on Subconsciously Pulling Inspiration from Star Trek: First Contact
Speaking with /Film, director Michael Shanks admits, "I was reflecting on one of my favorite movies of all time as a kid—Star Trek: First Contact, directed by Jonathan Frakes," he said. "I rewatched it recently, and I was like, 'Oh, this is a body horror movie.' It begins with Captain Picard being injected, a needle into his eyeball, and a spider crawls out of his face. They're grafting human skin onto Data in this erotic way. I'm like, 'Why did I watch this so much as a kid?' So yeah, thanks to the Frakes-man for the inspiration."
It's not hard to see the throughline. Like Star Trek: First Contact, Together finds the unease in transformation; the strange space where fascination and revulsion overlap. And honestly, the film's success lies in that familiar balancing of the grotesque with the grounded. Shanks ensures the audience feels every subtle shift in their relationship alongside every queasy practical effect. The result is a midnight-movie crowd-pleaser that leaves as much to talk about emotionally as it does visually.
Neon's body horror flick Together is in theaters now.
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