Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. Outwardly, it could look like typical biological terror, but inside Together exists a profound contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The story commences when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes end. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the two tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in long-term unions after ten years. At their core, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
