Here's a dare for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it may seem like typical biological terror, but within Together exists a profound examination about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for a decade. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story commences when the couple move from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A commonly used plot device, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity takes hold of the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying fright fest, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes either of his characters the obvious villain.
The couple grapple with the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights work together in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. On the other hand, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
