We present a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your partner and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical body horror, but within Together exists a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when the couple move from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A familiar story element, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the cliches conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his social circle. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that arise in any relationship a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement 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 avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
