We present a test for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of horror films: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical physical horror, but inside Together exists a intense meditation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple relocate from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence begins influencing the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn of scares, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only the two lead actors, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and distant from his social circle. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Both characters confront the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can embark on right now.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu now.