Here's a test for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like typical body horror, but within Together exists a intense contemplation about how we choose to love each other.
An Introductory Film Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The plot starts when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches end. Together transforms 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 trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the two discover an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships 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 beneath it all, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the symbolism avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could act as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your significant other and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform now.
