Here's a test for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but within Together exists a deep contemplation about our choices in loving one another.
An Introductory Film Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a slow burn horror experience, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple face the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they have affection for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
