We present a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your significant other and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like standard body horror, but within Together exists a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie transition from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the couple. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The whole movie is a slow burn fright fest, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something horrific). The director weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
The couple face the sort of issues that are inherent in any relationship after ten years. At their core, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them 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 ending sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu now.
