Consider this a test for long-term couples who are fans of horror films: Settle in with your loved one and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like standard body horror, but beneath Together lies a intense examination about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for her career. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that arise in long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs 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 revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and state, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
