We present a challenge for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy the horror genre: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like standard physical horror, but inside Together resides a intense contemplation about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the debut feature-length film for director Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, partners that have stayed together for over ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative commences when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the country for Millie’s job. A commonly used story element, sure, but that’s primarily where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the pair’s relationship as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an underground cave. After spending the night there and managing to escape, a strange force begins influencing the pair. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, blending elements of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes amidst something disturbing). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and delivers them in a gradually swelling aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and removed from his network of friends. He is terrified of the idea of utterly sacrificing his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the reality he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect is that he never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the type of challenges that come with long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these concerns of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the symbolism does not come across as overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other symbiotically.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. It has been said that single viewers have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and utter, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an exploration you can embark on today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
