We present a dare for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like conventional physical horror, but beneath Together lies a deep examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together marks the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the two stars bring a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when Millie and Tim move from the urban environment to the countryside for her career. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous exchanges (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Both characters confront the type of challenges that are inherent in any relationship after ten years. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these fears of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Conversely, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion 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 glance toward your partner and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.