Here's a dare for partners in committed relationships who appreciate scary movies: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its streaming debut on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like typical physical horror, but beneath Together exists a deep examination about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together marks the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the two stars bring a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes conclude. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim tumble into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past simple connection.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
The couple face the sort of issues that are inherent in any relationship after ten years. At their core, they have affection for each other. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to another person, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, some couples experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your other half and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
