Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its streaming debut on Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like standard body horror, but beneath Together resides a intense meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical story element, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the couple. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The complete narrative is a slow burn of scares, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) body horror, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He dreads the notion of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he can’t drive and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple face the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to another person, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could act as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
