Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like standard biological terror, but inside Together resides a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and removed from his social circle. He dreads the concept of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is amplified by the reality he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters grapple with the kind of problems that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. Deep down, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform now.
