Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like typical body horror, but beneath Together exists a intense examination about our choices in loving our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when the couple move from the urban environment to the country for her career. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a slow burn horror experience, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). The director skillfully blends these components expertly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the concept of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
The couple confront the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to another person, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
