We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and view Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional body horror, but beneath Together resides a deep examination about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for over ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the countryside for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the concept of completely losing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that come with most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
