Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like typical body horror, but inside Together exists a profound examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together marks the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the conventions conclude. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn fright fest, interspersing bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism never feels overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
