Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 just made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like conventional body horror, but inside Together lies a deep meditation about our choices in loving one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the metropolis to the country for her career. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes during something horrific). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He is terrified of the idea of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple face the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism avoids being hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension 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 ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu now.
