Here's a test for partners in committed relationships who are fans of the horror genre: Sit down with your loved one and watch Together. The 2025 indie hit has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. Outwardly, it may seem like standard biological terror, but within Together exists a deep examination about our choices in loving each other.
A Directorial Debut Investigating Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for over ten years. United in marriage in reality in 2017, the actors contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A commonly used story element, admittedly, but that’s largely where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a strange force begins influencing the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The complete narrative is a methodically building of scares, weaving in bits of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) physical transformations, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes amidst something horrific). The director skillfully blends these components expertly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie’s confidence and sense of connection is waning due to a distance. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and far away from his support system. He dreads the notion of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and relies on Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together never makes one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the kind of problems that are inherent in long-term unions after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They share moments of joy, offer support, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a brilliant analogue to the character-driven drama. Both the supernatural and the personal serve the other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have seen the movie as a powerful case for staying single. Conversely, a few pairs having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a revealing measure of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and yell at the screen, or simply glance toward your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on Hulu at present.
