Here's a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your loved one and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 just made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like conventional physical horror, but inside Together resides a deep meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together is the debut feature-length film 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 been together for ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when the couple relocate from the big city to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim discover an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn horror experience, interspersing bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the two lead actors, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and distant from his support system. He dreads the idea of completely losing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes Tim or Millie the definite antagonist.
The couple confront the type of challenges that are inherent in long-term unions over a long period. Deep down, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these concerns of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a perfect parallel to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that single viewers have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, certain partners having disagreements found that the film actually helped them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a telling indicator of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in one of the characters and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and say, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on at this very moment.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform now.
