We present a test for long-term couples who enjoy the horror genre: Sit down with your partner and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like standard physical horror, but within Together resides a intense examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is 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, a pair who are not married that have been together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors infuse a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s primarily where the cliches conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their rural residence, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and far away from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in Together never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love each other. They find humor with each other, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to another person, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have seen the movie as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu at present.
