We present a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard body horror, but inside Together exists a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for a decade. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something horrific). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated 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 utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple confront the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
