Here's a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut via Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional physical horror, but inside Together lies a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors infuse a special spark to their roles, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when Millie and Tim transition from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s mostly where the cliches end. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He fears the notion of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the kind of problems that come with any relationship after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
