We present a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional body horror, but within Together resides a intense examination about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The story starts when the couple move from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that come with any relationship after ten years. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor never feels overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that single viewers have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
