We present a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like conventional biological terror, but inside Together resides a intense contemplation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when Millie and Tim transition from the metropolis to the countryside for her career. A somewhat stereotypical narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a slow burn fright fest, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). The director skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of completely losing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. At their core, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the allegory never feels hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform now.
