Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it may seem like conventional biological terror, but beneath Together lies a deep meditation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple transition from the urban environment to the country for her career. A familiar story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the two fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his support system. He fears the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple face the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory 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 serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
