Here's a dare for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like standard biological terror, but beneath Together exists a profound meditation about our choices in loving one another.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when the couple relocate from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and distant from his support system. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his individual identity in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the type of challenges that are inherent in any relationship a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the metaphor never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
