Consider this a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Settle in with your significant other and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like standard physical horror, but inside Together resides a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a special spark to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot begins when Tim and Millie relocate from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical story element, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that come with any relationship after ten years. Fundamentally, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
