INITIAL THOUGHTS
We are so blessed we have an original horror movie filled with limb twisting, romantic awkward relationship building, and scares to keep you up at night all weaved into one. I feel like calling this a romantic body horror feels right? I don’t know how many other movies I’ve given that thought or genre label to. This isn’t as extreme as The Fly from a body horror perspective, but that is like a monster body horror with a romance storyline. This feels like a true romantic body horror where the story is driven by their relationship and then coming together but in the most brutal way of intimacy possible. The fusing body parts and contorting forms got me feeling tense but the parts where body parts would touch and not be able to separate (like the ole nether regions) fucked me up the most. Dave Franco and Alison Brie knock this plot out of the park. Some things I think could have been done better and honestly for a body horror it was a little more tame than I expected overall after seeing the trailer, but man am I so happy an original horror like this was such a well done piece of art that I will probably revisit several times when it is out. This film effectively used like four characters also, which is not easy and I applaud that because it knew the money maker was the relationship between Tim and Millie and they let it shine.
FOR A REAL MARRIED COUPLE, THEY PLAY DISCONNECTED VERY WELL
Kudos to Franco and Brie because it is thoroughly impressive that a couple married in real like for 8 years or so can come off like a new couple that’s moving too fast and not even close to on the same page. I don’t know if they had small bickering points from being married on they could lean on or if the script writer just knew how to handle those situations well but every little thing that would irritate your partner or portray to others that you were having issues behind closed doors was on full display perfectly. That and their chemistry impressed me the most. The sexual chemistry also felt real for obvious reasons. All of which added to the overall tone of the romantic story we were seeing unfold on screen. Even down to seeing little Franco. Even if it likely was a stunt penis. It was a great shock moment in this film.
They felt disconnected the whole time leading up to their eventual conjoining, and that aspect was drilled home extremely well by director Michael Shanks. All of the scenes where Tim (Franco) was literally drawn to Millie (Brie) like a magnet was a lot of fun. The walk from the train, the hiding in the woods outside Jamie’s (Damon Herriman) house, and the hallway scene which was a highlight of the film to me. Leading to one of the creepiest visuals when Millie is bent over backwards facing Tim questioning what is happening. All of this happening to make them feel the ultimate form of intimacy is such an incredible concept and I’m so glad a film like this made it onto the big screen for all of us to take in.
QUITE TAME FOR THE BODY GORE EXPECTED
I expected this film to be extremely graphic and the body horror to be next level. But it really didn’t reach that level. There are surely scenes that will make your skin crawl, but nothing that visually made me question my life like some things we saw in Bring Her Back and The Substance. Even the infamous work saw scene was cut short and not shown very much of. A similar scene in The Evil Dead remake was what I was more expecting, but instead we got a start of some cutting action then boom cut to them after eating and bandaged up. I almost enjoyed that it didn’t have an insane amount of body horror, because I enjoyed it more and didn’t feel queasy, but I expected some more at least. This may be why this did so well with general audiences too is because the body horror isn’t unbearable to watch.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The unraveling of Jamie and his husband’s merging was revealed in a great way, the video tape is done often but it didn’t feel like some cliche monologue drop that explains everything to the viewer like we are toddlers. This allowed us to digest what we saw on the video tape and figure it out on our own which I really appreciated. It was a great kickoff to the climax of the film honestly. Didn’t feel too late in the film either since we had already suspected certain things were happening and why, but this helped hammer it home. The creature in the hole of the hiking couple that resisted also was a great touch. Having Tim and Millie away from each other making their own realizations before coming together to try to put this to an end was a nice touch compared to the classic “they figured it out together in some miraculous way” that happens so often. This movie also landed the ending, we got answers to what happens when they let it happen, we got answers to what could happen if they resisted, and we saw it all in all of its glory as they nakedly joined into one person. I can only imagine how that lunch went with her parents when they saw Tim and Millie as one person answer the door and invite them in. Thank you to this cast, studio and director Michael Shanks for this awesome original horror film to keep this year of horror going strong!
7/10 for me ⭐️
The Cinema Speakeasy Theatre Room 
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