Consider this a test for partners in committed relationships who are fans of the horror genre: Settle in with your partner and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its streaming debut via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard physical horror, but inside Together lies a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The story begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He dreads the idea of completely losing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the kind of problems that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. Deep down, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these fears of codependency and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, 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 telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
