Here's a dare for long-term couples who are fans of horror films: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its streaming debut via Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional biological terror, but inside Together lies a intense contemplation about our choices in loving one another.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together represents the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, the two stars bring a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the country for her career. A commonly used plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the conventions conclude. Together becomes as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their country house, a violent storm occurs, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity takes hold of the pair. This force creates a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn fright fest, blending moments of dreamlike terrors, unsettling (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes during something horrific). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie face the type of challenges that are inherent in most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the metaphor never feels overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama serve the other in harmony.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have interpreted the film as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters 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 experiment you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu as of this moment.
