We present a test for long-term couples who are fans of horror films: Get comfortable with your significant other and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like typical body horror, but within Together resides a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The plot starts when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the rural area for her career. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s primarily where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force starts to affect the duo. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something horrific). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and far away from his social circle. He fears the notion of completely losing his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform at present.
