Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like typical body horror, but beneath Together exists a deep contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The plot commences when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the country for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance 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.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and removed from his social circle. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple face the sort of issues that are inherent in long-term unions after ten years. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama work together in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Conversely, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
