Here's a test for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like standard biological terror, but beneath Together lies a deep examination about how we choose to love one another.
An Introductory Film Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the countryside for her career. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two fall into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the couple. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building horror experience, interspersing moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but never too gross) body horror, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that come with most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these concerns of excessive reliance and fully committing to a partner, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that single viewers have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
