We present a test for those in enduring partnerships who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your partner and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 has now made its streaming debut on the Hulu service. At first glance, it might appear like conventional biological terror, but inside Together lies a profound examination about how we choose to love each other.
An Introductory Film Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for over ten years. United in marriage in actuality in 2017, Franco and Brie infuse a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The narrative begins when the couple move from the metropolis to the country for Millie’s job. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes cease. Together transforms into 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 hiking near their country house, a storm hits, and the protagonists discover an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a supernatural entity takes hold of the couple. This force compels a supernatural closeness between them that goes well past typical partnership.
The whole movie is a methodically building fright fest, weaving in elements of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) physical transformations, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something horrific). Shanks weaves these elements together seamlessly and delivers them in a gradually swelling sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Her self-assurance and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to focus on anything other than his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He fears the idea of totally forfeiting his sense of self in Millie. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and is dependent on Millie for transportation.
The film's most intelligent aspect in this movie avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Both characters face the sort of issues that arise in most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They find humor with each other, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these anxieties of unhealthy attachment and totally devoting oneself to another person, the symbolism does not come across as hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the supernatural and the personal work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s ending, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could act as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale sow anxiety and horror, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your other half and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can undertake at this very moment.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu at present.
