Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your partner and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like conventional physical horror, but inside Together resides a intense meditation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the conventions end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity begins influencing the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the sort of issues that arise in long-term unions over a long period. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these fears of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can embark on today.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
