Consider this a dare for partners in committed relationships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your loved one and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together exists a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The story begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity takes hold of the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that come with long-term unions after ten years. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
