Here's a dare for long-term couples who are fans of horror films: Settle in with your partner and view Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like conventional biological terror, but within Together exists a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity begins influencing the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie grapple with the sort of issues that come with most partnerships after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can embark on right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
