Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of the horror genre: Get comfortable with your partner and view Together. This 2025 indie hit recently had its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but within Together exists a deep examination about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have stayed together for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story begins when the couple move from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an hole in the earth. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together expertly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
