Here's a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like typical body horror, but beneath Together lies a deep examination about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars contribute a special spark to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative commences when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the country for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their new home, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The whole movie is a slow burn horror experience, weaving in elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and presents them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He fears the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the sort of issues that come with most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these concerns of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. On the other hand, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform at present.
