We present a dare for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it could look like typical physical horror, but inside Together lies a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story begins when the couple relocate from the metropolis to the country for her career. A somewhat stereotypical story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, gross (but never too gross) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple face the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, some couples experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your partner and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu at present.
