Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of horror films: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it may seem like typical physical horror, but inside Together lies a profound contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s largely where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity begins influencing the couple. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn horror experience, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He dreads the idea of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that come with long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
