We present a test for partners in committed relationships who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like conventional physical horror, but inside Together lies a profound examination about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a special spark to their roles, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when the couple relocate from the big city to the rural area for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but tastefully done) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple face the kind of problems that come with most partnerships after ten years. Deep down, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor avoids being hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu now.
