Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like standard physical horror, but inside Together lies a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors contribute a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when the couple transition from the metropolis to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the two discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor never feels overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu now.
