Consider this a dare for partners in committed relationships who are fans of horror films: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its streaming debut via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like conventional body horror, but within Together lies a deep meditation about how we choose to love each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the couple. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that come with any relationship a decade in. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and say, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
