We present a test for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like standard physical horror, but within Together lies a intense contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie transition from the urban environment to the country for her career. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity takes hold of the duo. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes during something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply turn to your significant other and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform now.
