Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical physical horror, but within Together lies a deep examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the two stars infuse a special spark to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative starts when the couple transition from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). The director orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his social circle. He fears the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that are inherent in any relationship a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
