We present a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your partner and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together resides a intense examination about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for a decade. Having wed in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their portrayals, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s primarily where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force takes hold of the couple. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, interspersing elements of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the kind of problems that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
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 those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
