We present a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it may seem like typical physical horror, but beneath Together lies a deep examination about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in reality in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The plot begins when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the couple. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that come with most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and say, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
