Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 just made its streaming debut on Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like typical body horror, but beneath Together exists a profound meditation about how we choose to love one another.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have been together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a special spark to their roles, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative commences when Millie and Tim move from the urban environment to the country for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He dreads the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes either of his characters the obvious villain.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Conversely, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
