Consider this a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like conventional physical horror, but within Together lies a intense examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when the couple relocate from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions end. Together evolves into 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 new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a slow burn horror experience, interspersing moments of dreamlike terrors, gross (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and delivers them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple grapple with the kind of problems that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights work together in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu now.
