Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of horror films: Sit down with your significant other and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like standard physical horror, but inside Together lies a deep contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their roles, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a enduring union.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie move from the metropolis to the rural area for her career. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, blending elements of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his social circle. He dreads the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have interpreted the film as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, some couples having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could act as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
