Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like standard biological terror, but beneath Together resides a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when the couple move from the urban environment to the country for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his social circle. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could function as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can embark on right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
