Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard body horror, but beneath Together lies a intense examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for over ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when the couple move from the urban environment to the country for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical story element, of course, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform now.
