Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like conventional body horror, but beneath Together lies a deep meditation about our choices in loving each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together marks the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a special spark to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie transition from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, of course, but that’s mostly where the cliches end. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the two tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the sort of issues that arise in long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
