Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together exists a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when the couple move from the metropolis to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a strange force takes hold of the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something horrific). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He dreads the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Both characters face the sort of issues that come with most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these concerns of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory avoids being overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your other half and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
