Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like conventional body horror, but beneath Together resides a deep examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for over ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple relocate from the metropolis to the country for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, blending bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes amidst something horrific). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these fears of codependency 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 ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform at present.
