We present a test for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. The 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it might appear like standard physical horror, but inside Together exists a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have been together for over ten years. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the two stars infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the big city to the rural area for her career. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the two discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building horror experience, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only the two lead actors, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He fears the notion of completely losing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is amplified by the reality he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that come with most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of codependency and fully committing to another person, the metaphor never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and say, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
