Here's a test for those in enduring partnerships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its online premiere on Hulu. On the surface, it may seem like standard biological terror, but within Together lies a deep examination about how we choose to love one another.
A Debut Feature Investigating Relationship Dynamics
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in actuality in 2017, the two stars infuse a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The story starts when Millie and Tim move from the urban environment to the rural area for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s primarily where the tropes conclude. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the two discover an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a supernatural entity starts to affect the couple. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, interspersing moments of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and authentically humorous dialogue (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is deteriorating due to a lack of intimacy. Her unspoken irritation of Tim for his unwillingness to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of completely losing his individual identity in another person. This fear is amplified by the circumstance he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes one partner or the other the obvious villain.
The couple face the kind of problems that are inherent in any relationship over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together act as a metaphor for these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and fully committing to a partner, the allegory avoids being clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama serve the other symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have interpreted the film as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, some couples having disagreements found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own interpretation could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire a sense of discomfort and fear, or a positive outlook on love? Will you recognize your own traits in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply turn to your partner and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
