Here's a test for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like conventional body horror, but inside Together lies a deep meditation about how we choose to love each other.
An Introductory Film Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie never makes either of his characters the obvious villain.
The couple confront the type of challenges that come with long-term unions after ten years. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these fears of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
