We present a dare for long-term couples who appreciate horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional physical horror, but inside Together lies a intense contemplation about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in real life in 2017, the two stars contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when the couple transition from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, admittedly, 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.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity takes hold of the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a methodically building of scares, blending elements of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But under the surface, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Allegory and Meaning
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these fears of codependency and fully committing to a partner, the allegory never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a perfect parallel to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, some couples who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply turn to your other half and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
