Here's a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut on Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like typical physical horror, but within Together lies a intense examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The story starts when Tim and Millie transition from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s primarily where the conventions conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that arise in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they still love each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these fears of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
