Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your partner and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere on the Hulu service. At first glance, it may seem like typical body horror, but beneath Together exists a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a special spark to their roles, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the country for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force takes hold of the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, interspersing moments of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes amidst something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and distant from his social circle. He dreads the idea of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting either of his characters the definite antagonist.
The couple grapple with the type of challenges that arise in any relationship a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory does not come across as clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an experiment you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu at present.
