We present a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Settle in with your loved one and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like conventional body horror, but within Together lies a intense examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together represents 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 remained a couple for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors contribute a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when the couple move from the urban environment to the country for professional reasons. A commonly used story element, sure, but that’s primarily where the tropes end. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity starts to affect the duo. This force creates a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together refrains from painting one partner or the other the obvious villain.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that come with long-term unions a decade in. At their core, they have affection for one another. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own reaction could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your other half and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
