Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of the horror genre: Settle in with your partner and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical physical horror, but within Together exists a profound meditation about our choices in loving each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director 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 a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars bring a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when Tim and Millie transition from the urban environment to the countryside for her career. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s primarily where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in elements of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He fears the concept of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that come with any relationship a decade in. Deep down, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu at present.
