Here's a dare for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your significant other and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard body horror, but inside Together resides a deep examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors contribute a special spark to their characters, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim transition from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, sure, but that’s largely where the conventions cease. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their country house, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, blending bits of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic interactions (sometimes during something grotesque). The director weaves these elements together neatly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and removed from his support system. He is terrified of the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in this movie refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions after ten years. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the metaphor never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a powerful case for staying single. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the finale plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply glance toward your other half and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an test you can experience right now.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
