Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your partner and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard biological terror, but within Together resides a intense examination about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when the couple move from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the tropes end. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his social circle. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie confront the kind of problems that arise in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
