Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like standard biological terror, but within Together exists a deep examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for a decade. Married in actuality in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie transition from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s largely where the conventions end. Together transforms into 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 country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A significant portion of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his social circle. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake today.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
