Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who are fans of scary movies: Settle in with your partner and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but within Together lies a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The story commences when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the country for professional reasons. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a body horror flick.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While trekking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists fall into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The complete narrative is a gradually intensifying of scares, weaving in moments of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something disturbing). The director skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a slowly mounting atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for getting around.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie confront the sort of issues that come with most partnerships after ten years. At their core, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Reports indicate that single viewers have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
