We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together resides a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their characters, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the duo. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The whole movie is a methodically building horror experience, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something horrific). The director weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the kind of problems that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. 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 response could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion sow anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu at present.
