Consider this a dare for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your partner and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like conventional body horror, but beneath Together lies a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A commonly used narrative setup, sure, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a slow burn fright fest, interspersing elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and removed from his support system. He dreads the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he avoids making Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor avoids being hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your other half and state, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
