Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like typical body horror, but beneath Together exists a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple transition from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a slow burn fright fest, blending elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple face the type of challenges that come with long-term unions over a long period. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your other half and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
