We present a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical physical horror, but beneath Together resides a deep contemplation about our choices in loving one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their characters, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The story starts when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He fears the notion of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple face the kind of problems that are inherent in long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. 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 ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
