Here's a test for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and view Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere via Hulu. Outwardly, it may seem like typical body horror, but beneath Together lies a deep examination about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for a decade. Married in real life in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the strengths and weaknesses of a enduring union.
The story begins when the couple move from the metropolis to the country for her career. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, sure, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together transforms into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While walking near their country house, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim tumble into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, blending elements of dreamlike terrors, gross (but never too gross) physical transformations, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components neatly and wraps them up in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion 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 suffering due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and far away from his network of friends. He dreads the notion of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making either of his characters the definite antagonist.
Both characters grapple with the sort of issues that come with most partnerships over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply turn to your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can experience right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
