Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like typical physical horror, but within Together resides a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when the couple move from the urban environment to the country for her career. A commonly used plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the tropes end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a slow burn horror experience, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Both characters grapple with the kind of problems that come with any relationship a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu now.
