We present a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but beneath Together exists a profound meditation about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie move from the metropolis to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie confront the kind of problems that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
