Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your loved one and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like standard physical horror, but inside Together resides a deep examination about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It stars 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. United in marriage in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when the couple transition from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A familiar story element, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force induces a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in moments of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his social circle. He is terrified of the concept of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie confront the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism avoids being hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply look at your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
