Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical physical horror, but beneath Together lies a deep meditation about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have been together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative starts when Millie and Tim transition from the big city to the country for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, blending bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) physical transformations, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these fears of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. 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 reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
