We present a dare for partners in committed relationships who appreciate scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like conventional physical horror, but inside Together lies a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes cease. Together transforms into as much a examination of mental states of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity takes hold of the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building of scares, interspersing bits of fever-dream horrors, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and needs Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie never makes one partner or the other the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that come with any relationship over a long period. At their core, they continue to care for one another. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your other half and state, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform at present.
