Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who are fans of horror films: Sit down with your loved one and stream Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like typical biological terror, but beneath Together exists a intense contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
An Introductory Film Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when the couple transition from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is exclusively the two lead actors, and they masterfully render countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He fears the idea of completely losing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie never makes Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they still love each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples having disagreements found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform now.
