Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your partner and stream Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like conventional body horror, but within Together resides a profound examination about how we choose to love our partners.
An Introductory Film Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, partners that have been together for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors bring a unique chemistry to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story begins when Tim and Millie move from the urban environment to the countryside for Millie’s job. A commonly used narrative setup, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the two discover an subterranean cavern. After spending the night there and finally finding a way out, a strange force takes hold of the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding simple connection.
The entire film is a methodically building fright fest, blending bits of hallucinatory nightmares, unsettling (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something disturbing). The director orchestrates these parts expertly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they masterfully render manifold depths to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and removed from his social circle. He fears the idea of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie refrains from painting one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Tim and Millie grapple with the sort of issues that are inherent in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together represent these fears of excessive reliance and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these visceral horror elements present a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has left audiences divided on the story's concluding statement about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. Conversely, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and state, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can embark on right now.
Together is streaming on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
