Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard body horror, but within Together lies a intense contemplation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie 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 ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s primarily where the cliches cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and the two discover an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the couple. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for remaining unattached. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
