Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it may seem like typical physical horror, but within Together lies a intense examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim transition from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing elements of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). The director weaves these elements together neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of completely losing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. Deep down, they still love one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can experience right now.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
