Here's a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere via Hulu. On the surface, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but inside Together exists a profound examination about the ways we decide to love one another.
An Introductory Film Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together is the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It features Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative commences when the couple move from the big city to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar narrative setup, of course, but that’s largely where the cliches conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and the protagonists discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity 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 moments of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but never too gross) body horror, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they deftly portray countless layers to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his reluctance to chase only his floundering music career slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He dreads the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he does not operate a vehicle and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the allegory avoids being clumsy or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights enhance each other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your other half and state, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can embark on right now.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
