We present a test for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your partner and view Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it might appear like conventional physical horror, but beneath Together exists a profound contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when the couple transition from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A familiar narrative setup, sure, but that’s primarily where the cliches conclude. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence starts to affect the couple. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a slow burn fright fest, interspersing bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) body horror, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is only the two lead actors, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and removed from his social circle. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship after ten years. Deep down, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the symbolism avoids being clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s conclusion, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu as of this moment.
