We present a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your partner and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like conventional biological terror, but inside Together resides a profound meditation about our choices in loving one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their characters, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story begins when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two tumble into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He fears the notion of completely losing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that arise in long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they still love each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu now.
