Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional physical horror, but inside Together resides a profound examination about how we choose to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The story starts when the couple move from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, weaving in bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something horrific). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions after ten years. Deep down, they still love each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these fears of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
