Still image from Together (2025, dir. Michael Shanks)
Hello, dear subscriber!
You are reading the twenty-third edition of Field Notes From Hell, a weekly horror column from Deep Cuts.
Every Sunday, I send out an email with a four-pack of horror film recommendations, along with a hand-picked curation of news clips and horror collectibles. I send these — or I try to, anyway — every Sunday.
This week’s featured horror is Michael Shanks’ Together, a (hopefully not plagiarized, tee-hee!) dark comedy about the horrors of romantic (and theological) codependence.
IT WAS IN PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM that Aristophanes spelt what loving meant or where it came from. It was, of all things, a punishment — a relentless and unfathomable yearning for someone besides yourself. More than a feeling, the playwright tells us, loving is straddling an unearthly need to fill a void in someone’s life, a compulsion from which no one seems able to part. “For love is the desire of the whole, and the pursuit of the whole is called love.”
Michael Shanks’ debut feature, Together, is a gruesome retelling of that speech, following thirtysomethings going through the motions of a rocky relationship. She believes the quiescence of country life will mitigate untended issues; he thinks the move too big a change, especially after witnessing a horrific accident involving his parents. Still, Millie and Tim U-hauls to the backwoods, hoping a restart will strengthen will their bond…erm, together. Little did they know.
The horror of Together is the horror of codependence. When romance is its own kind of devotion, at which point does intimacy becomes erasure? It’s that pointy end where you feel confronted by horrid ideas: how much of your relationship is real love and how much of it is capitulation, like you’re living someone else’s life? It’s tough terrain that all long-term couples face, but never has it been grotesquely depicted as it is in this film: two people fused together, their flesh enmeshed in one another.
Alison Brie and Dave Franco (who serve as producers in the film and star as Millie and Tim, respectively), sell the body horror and their character’s romantic turmoil pretty well, even if there isn’t nearly enough detail on what, exactly, makes their partnership so miserable, outside of some nasty spats. The rest you kind of have to detect on your own: the depressed-avoidant boyfriend, secular unions (that would otherwise be viewed taboo), and the loin-girding desire for love — or the idea of it, anyway.
ABOUT THE FILM
👁️ Together | 2025 dir. Michael Shanks | Horror, Drama | 🇺🇸
Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country. With tensions already flaring, an encounter with an unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love and their flesh.
Horror recs this week
Every FIELD NOTES FROM HELL dispatch includes a three-pack of horror recs: 1.) recent horror, 2.) horror classic, and 3.) overlooked or underrated horror.
Here are this week’s recommendations.
1️⃣ New Horror: Birthrite (2025, dir. Ross Partridge)
Rosemary’s Baby meets The VVitch. It’s a fair reduction of a movie that’s literally titled Birthrite, just in case you need the reminder of which horror subgenre you’re watching (spoiler: you’re on preg-folk-horror!). Built almost solely on the backs of the two leads’ stellar performances, Alice Kremelberg and Juani Feliz, the film taps into the horrors of reproductive autonomy and queer family-making in a society that’s constantly invalidating their experience.
2️⃣ Classic Horror: Misery (1990, dir. Rob Reiner)
I’ve procured a Scribner paperback of Stephen King’s novel recently and — helplessly! — have been wanting to detach the indelible image of Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s ‘90s classic, and just appreciate King’s text. And what do I do? Rewatch the film. The hobbling scene is still rather tame compared to the gruesome descriptions in the novel, but by God, do Bates make the whole thing horrifying.
3️⃣ Underrated/Overlooked: Okaruto (2009, dir. Koji Shiraichi)
When you hear Koji Shiraishi, you don’t instantly think Okaruto (English title: Occult). You think Noroi: The Curse, a spooky mocku/found-footage horror that (rightly) nestles atop best-of lists. This similarly lo-fi mocku “investigates” a strange, mass-stabbing incident that leaves an indigent man marked with a possibly ancient curse. It isn’t as terrifying as Noroi, but it’s the closest among all of Shiraishi’s wildly prolific filmography. Fun cameo from Kiyoshi Kurosawa, too.
In addition to weekly horror recs, I’m also curating notable horror headlines and sharing here in quick, TL;DR bullet lists so you can get (mostly) up-to-date with your horror news.
Plus, I’m calling attention to upcoming horror film and TV releases both in theaters and streaming platforms. Here’s what’s new in horror this week.
Him — Jordan Peele-produced horror film about sports machismo
Shelby Oaks— Chris Stuckmann’s debut feature, backed by great filmmaking talents like Mike Flanagan who’s also producing the film
BULK— Ben Wheatley’s new film; looks like a return to his weird, free-spirited roots (see: Sightseers and A Field in England)
The Rage — Dmitriy Dyachenko’s film follows a group of hunters fending off rabid wolves and grizzly bears in the Russian tundra
Marquee Macabre: Upcoming horror films & TV
👾 Alien: Earthis coming to Hulu on August 12th — finally!
🕯️Witchboard, the new horror from Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors), is coming out in U.S. theaters this week.
💔Samuel Van Grinsven’s Went Up the Hillis hitting theaters this Friday, August 15th. The film stars Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery.
🛸 From the producers of The Endless comes Peter Cilella’s The Descendent, a sci-fi thriller about an “abducted” man. Out in VOD Friday, August 15th.
🤠 Ari Aster’s Eddington is out in VOD this Wednesday, August 12th.
That’s it for this week’s digest! Thank you so much for reading through.
ABOUT FIELD NOTES FROM HELL
FIELD NOTES FROM HELL is Deep Cuts’ weekly email digest. Dispatches go out every weekend, with handpicked capsule reviews, news updates, and horror recommendations.
Hey Armando - for some reason substack won’t let me direct message you. I saw Ted Hope’s post that you named FilmStack. That is very very cool. I’m a career strategist and grief recovery specialist who helps people through career transitions - whether they are positive (like a new leadership position) or negative (like a project tanking or getting laid off.) Would you be okay if I used your idea for the title of my substack? CareerStack.
Hey Armando - for some reason substack won’t let me direct message you. I saw Ted Hope’s post that you named FilmStack. That is very very cool. I’m a career strategist and grief recovery specialist who helps people through career transitions - whether they are positive (like a new leadership position) or negative (like a project tanking or getting laid off.) Would you be okay if I used your idea for the title of my substack? CareerStack.