Here's a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like conventional physical horror, but within Together resides a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a special spark to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when the couple transition from the big city to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of completely losing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple face the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
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 finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, 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 say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
