Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like typical body horror, but beneath Together lies a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The narrative begins when Millie and Tim transition from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He fears the notion of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in Together avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that arise in any relationship after ten years. At their core, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
