Here's a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it could look like typical physical horror, but beneath Together lies a intense examination about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie transition from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, of course, but that’s largely where the tropes end. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past simple connection.
The complete narrative is a slow burn fright fest, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) body horror, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). The director skillfully blends these components expertly and wraps them up in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and removed from his social circle. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his sense of self in Millie. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision is that he never makes Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love each other. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these concerns of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the metaphor never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes provide a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a strong argument for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can embark on right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
