Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like typical body horror, but within Together lies a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his support system. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu now.
