Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but within Together resides a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have been together for over ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the actors contribute a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when Millie and Tim transition from the urban environment to the country for her career. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is amplified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that come with most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
