Consider this a challenge for long-term couples who are fans of scary movies: Sit down with your partner and view Together. The independent film success of 2025 recently had its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but inside Together exists a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together marks the debut feature-length film for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It stars the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a particular energy to their portrayals, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie transition from the big city to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s largely where the cliches cease. Together becomes as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While walking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and eventually escaping, a supernatural entity begins influencing the couple. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The complete narrative is a slow burn horror experience, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, gross (but never too gross) physical transformations, and authentically humorous interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts neatly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A great deal of Together is exclusively Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the partnership at the film's core. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is suffering due to a emotional and physical gap. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his floundering music career inexorably rises.
Conversely, Tim experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He dreads the concept of completely losing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
Both characters face the kind of problems that come with long-term unions over a long period. Fundamentally, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable current of uncertainty about their future together.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the supernatural forces in Together symbolize these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the allegory does not come across as hamfisted or heavy-handed. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the film’s ultimate message about unhealthy partnerships. Reports indicate that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. Conversely, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and yell at the screen, or simply look at your partner and say, “I understand that choice”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can experience today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu as of this moment.
