Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its streaming debut via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional body horror, but inside Together lies a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The story begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the type of challenges that come with any relationship a decade in. Deep down, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform at present.
