Here's a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but beneath Together exists a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a special spark to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building horror experience, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his sense of self in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
