We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like conventional body horror, but inside Together exists a deep contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. 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 rural residence, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building horror experience, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something grotesque). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and distant from his support system. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Both characters confront the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism never feels overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
