Consider this a dare for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like typical body horror, but beneath Together lies a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when the couple transition from the metropolis to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves 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 rural residence, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and delivers them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He fears the concept of completely losing his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
