We present a dare for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional body horror, but within Together resides a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the rural area for her career. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes amidst something horrific). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform now.
