Consider this a test for partners in committed relationships who appreciate the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like standard body horror, but beneath Together exists a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The plot commences when Tim and Millie relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a slow burn of scares, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and removed from his social circle. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu now.
