Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard biological terror, but beneath Together lies a profound contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The story starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence begins influencing the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and delivers them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple confront the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict 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 revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
