We present a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like standard body horror, but beneath Together resides a deep examination about how we choose to love each other.
An Introductory Film Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The story commences when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions conclude. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple confront the sort of issues that arise in long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can embark on today.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
