Consider this a dare for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like standard body horror, but inside Together exists a intense meditation about how we choose to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s primarily where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism avoids being hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.