Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your partner and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like standard body horror, but inside Together exists a profound meditation about our choices in loving each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something horrific). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his social circle. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple confront the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the symbolism never feels overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights work together in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply turn to your other half and say, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
