Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its streaming debut via Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional physical horror, but within Together lies a profound meditation about our choices in loving each other.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the debut feature-length film 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 stayed together for a decade. Married in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story commences when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a slow burn horror experience, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie confront the kind of problems that come with most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory avoids being clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
