Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like standard body horror, but inside Together exists a profound examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The story starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, interspersing bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he refrains from painting one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple face the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory avoids being clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
