Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard biological terror, but beneath Together resides a intense examination about the ways we decide to love each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together represents the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases 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 remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a particular energy to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The narrative begins when the couple move from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A commonly used narrative setup, of course, but that’s primarily where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the pair. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes amidst something horrific). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A significant portion 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 feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation 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 feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple confront the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for staying single. On the other hand, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
