Consider this a test for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional body horror, but within Together resides a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features 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 infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the country for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He fears the notion of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
The couple face the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the allegory never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
