Here's a dare for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like typical body horror, but within Together lies a profound contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot starts when the couple relocate from the big city to the country for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical story element, sure, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity takes hold of the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A great deal of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his social circle. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes either of his characters the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. At their core, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
