Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional physical horror, but beneath Together resides a deep examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). The director weaves these elements together expertly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple face the sort of issues that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for staying single. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu now.
