Consider this a dare for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Get comfortable with your loved one and view Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like typical biological terror, but within Together resides a deep meditation about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for a decade. Having wed in real life in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together becomes 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 tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force compels a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he refrains from painting Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that come with any relationship over a long period. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the metaphor avoids being overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights work together in harmony.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about enmeshed dynamics. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for staying single. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could function as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can embark on right now.
Together is available to watch on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
