Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your significant other and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but inside Together resides a profound contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Investigating The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, partners that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie move from the metropolis to the countryside for professional reasons. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and Millie and Tim discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying horror experience, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He is terrified of the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is further exacerbated by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and relies on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the kind of problems that arise in any relationship after ten years. Deep down, they have affection for one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the symbolism never feels hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the ending sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in either protagonist and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu at present.
