Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who are fans of horror films: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional biological terror, but beneath Together resides a intense examination about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors bring a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, interspersing bits of dreamlike terrors, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only the two lead actors, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the concept of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu now.
