Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard biological terror, but inside Together resides a profound contemplation about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The narrative begins when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions conclude. Together transforms 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 hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence starts to affect the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and distant from his social circle. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that come with long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
