Here's a dare for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it might appear like standard physical horror, but beneath Together exists a deep examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions end. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing bits of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his network of friends. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and say, “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 the streaming service Hulu now.
