Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but inside Together resides a intense examination about how we choose to love each other.
An Introductory Film Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s primarily where the conventions conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn horror experience, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). The director orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is intensified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the type of challenges that come with any relationship a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
