Here's a test for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Settle in with your partner and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it may seem like standard body horror, but within Together lies a intense examination about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when the couple transition from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the duo. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, weaving in bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they deftly portray countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He dreads the notion of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie grapple with the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. Deep down, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these fears of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the metaphor avoids being hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your other half and state, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
