Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together exists a intense examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, blending moments of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes amidst something horrific). The director weaves these elements together seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He dreads the concept of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
