Here's a dare for partners in committed relationships who are fans of the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it might appear like standard body horror, but within Together exists a deep contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when the couple move from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his social circle. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the finale sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
