Consider this a challenge for partners in committed relationships who enjoy horror films: Settle in with your loved one and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere via Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like typical biological terror, but inside Together exists a profound contemplation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for over ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their characters, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The plot commences when Millie and Tim relocate from the urban environment to the rural area for her career. A familiar plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence takes hold of the duo. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a methodically building horror experience, interspersing bits of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes during something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is solely the two lead actors, and they deftly portray numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He is terrified of the notion of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in Millie. This fear is amplified by the reality he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making either of his characters the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that arise in any relationship over a long period. Deep down, they continue to care for each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the paranormal elements in Together symbolize these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the symbolism does not come across as clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a compelling reason for remaining unattached. On the other hand, some couples experiencing tension found that the film ultimately assisted them resolve their issues.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could function as a revealing measure of how you view relationships. Will the finale inspire anxiety and horror, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can undertake right now.
Together is streaming on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
