Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional physical horror, but beneath Together exists a intense meditation about our choices in loving each other.
A Directorial Debut Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the duo. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something horrific). The director orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his social circle. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the sort of issues that arise in any relationship after ten years. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and state, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
