Here's a test for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like conventional body horror, but within Together exists a deep meditation about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
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, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a unique chemistry to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two tumble into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his support system. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple confront the kind of problems that come with most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
