We present a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate horror films: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its streaming debut on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like standard physical horror, but inside Together lies a intense examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when the couple transition from the metropolis to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two discover an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the couple. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but tastefully done) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and presents them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Both characters confront the type of challenges that come with long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
