We present a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and view Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard physical horror, but inside Together resides a profound examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when the couple transition from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes 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 Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple confront the type of challenges that come with long-term unions after ten years. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
