Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of horror films: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it might appear like typical biological terror, but inside Together exists a intense meditation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their roles, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The story commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for her career. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches conclude. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a methodically building horror experience, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). The director skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could act as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu at present.
