Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like standard biological terror, but beneath Together resides a profound examination about our choices in loving one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple move from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but never too gross) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director weaves these elements together expertly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting 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. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his network of friends. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that arise in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these concerns of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform now.
