Consider this a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your partner and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like standard physical horror, but inside Together lies a profound examination about how we choose to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative starts when Millie and Tim transition from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches end. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He dreads the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters face the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions a decade in. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and say, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
