Consider this a test for long-term couples who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like standard body horror, but beneath Together resides a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The plot begins when Tim and Millie transition from the big city to the rural area for her career. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches cease. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the two lead actors, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and distant from his network of friends. He fears the notion of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he refrains from painting either of his characters the obvious villain.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in long-term unions a decade in. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could act as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
