Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but within Together lies a deep contemplation about our choices in loving each other.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, interspersing moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple face the sort of issues that come with most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform now.
