We present a test for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your loved one and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like typical physical horror, but beneath Together lies a intense contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the two stars contribute a special spark to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story starts when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in elements of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). The director weaves these elements together neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters confront the kind of problems that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these fears of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the metaphor does not come across as overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
