Here's a dare for partners in committed relationships who are fans of scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like standard biological terror, but within Together lies a deep examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the two stars contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story commences when Tim and Millie transition from the metropolis to the rural area for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths 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 hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
