We present a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical body horror, but inside Together resides a deep examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the rural area for her career. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a slow burn horror experience, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). The director weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these concerns of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, 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, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform now.
