Here's a test for long-term couples who appreciate scary movies: Settle in with your partner and watch Together. This 2025 indie hit just made its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. On the surface, it could look like typical body horror, but inside Together lies a profound meditation about the ways we decide to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the introductory feature for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in reality in 2017, the actors contribute a particular energy to their characters, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a committed partnership.
The plot begins when the couple relocate from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A somewhat stereotypical plot device, of course, but that’s mostly where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the pair’s relationship as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their new home, a storm hits, and Millie and Tim fall into an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a mysterious influence begins influencing the pair. This force compels a otherworldly bond between them that goes far beyond typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, blending bits of dreamlike terrors, gross (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Shanks skillfully blends these components seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Complex Characterizations
A large part of Together is only Brie and Franco, and they deftly portray manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Tim, on the other hand experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and removed from his network of friends. He dreads the concept of completely losing his sense of self in another person. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and relies on Millie for getting around.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making one partner or the other the definite antagonist.
The couple face the type of challenges that come with most partnerships over a long period. Deep down, they still love one another. They share moments of joy, provide solace, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Allegory and Meaning
While the otherworldly presence in Together act as a metaphor for these concerns of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the allegory avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these visceral horror elements offer a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the film’s ultimate message about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a strong argument for staying single. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to make up.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the finale 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 turn to your significant other and say, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake today.
Together is available to watch on Hulu now.
