We present a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical physical horror, but inside Together lies a profound examination about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents 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 a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The story commences when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the rural area for her career. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his social circle. He dreads the idea of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple face the type of challenges that come with long-term unions a decade in. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
