Here's a test for long-term couples who are fans of horror films: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like conventional body horror, but beneath Together resides a deep examination about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story starts when the couple move from the metropolis to the countryside for Millie’s job. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a strange force starts to affect the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying fright fest, blending bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and removed from his social circle. He fears the idea of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the sort of issues that are inherent in any relationship a decade in. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
