Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of horror films: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like conventional physical horror, but within Together resides a deep examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing moments of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He fears the idea of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in Together avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism avoids being overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
