Here's a test for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like typical body horror, but beneath Together exists a deep contemplation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, partners that have stayed together for ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, the actors contribute a particular energy to their roles, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story begins when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force starts to affect the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a slow burn of scares, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and removed from his social circle. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his sense of self in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
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 come with most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these concerns of excessive reliance and fully committing to a partner, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights 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 film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion sow anxiety and horror, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an test you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
