Consider this a test for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like conventional body horror, but inside Together lies a intense meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when the couple move from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying of scares, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that come with long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the metaphor avoids being clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
