Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but within Together resides a profound meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors contribute a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The story commences when the couple relocate from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the duo. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and removed from his network of friends. He fears the idea of completely losing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie refrains from painting either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform at present.
