Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard physical horror, but beneath Together lies a intense examination about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. Married in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical story element, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and the two discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and far away from his social circle. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the sort of issues that come with long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of codependency and fully committing to another person, the symbolism does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
