Here's a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional body horror, but within Together resides a deep examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The plot begins when the couple move from the metropolis to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical story element, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying fright fest, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the kind of problems that come with most partnerships after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
