We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it may seem like standard biological terror, but beneath Together resides a intense examination about how we choose to love each other.
An Introductory Film Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The narrative begins when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence takes hold of the duo. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building horror experience, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). The director skillfully blends these components seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part 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 waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that come with any relationship over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
