We present a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your partner and view Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like standard biological terror, but inside Together exists a intense contemplation about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for over ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when the couple move from the metropolis to the country for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could act as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply look at your other half and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
