Here's a dare for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like standard physical horror, but within Together exists a deep examination about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the countryside for her career. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s primarily where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity begins influencing the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and delivers them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple face the type of challenges that arise in any relationship a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your significant other and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
