Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your partner and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical body horror, but beneath Together lies a profound meditation about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The plot begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the two tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity begins influencing the couple. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, blending moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes amidst something horrific). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship after ten years. Deep down, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to a partner, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion 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 glance toward your significant other and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
