We present a challenge for long-term couples who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your partner and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it could look like typical biological terror, but within Together resides a intense meditation about the ways we decide to love our partners.
A Debut Feature Exploring The Nuances of Love
Together is the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, a pair who are not married that have remained a couple for ten years. Married in actuality in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a long-term relationship.
The story commences when Millie and Tim move from the metropolis to the rural area for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the tropes conclude. Together becomes as much a deep dive into the psyche of the partnership as it is a body horror flick.
A Paranormal Spark
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists fall into an subterranean cavern. After a night spent there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the duo. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes well past emotional intimacy.
The entire film is a slow burn of scares, blending moments of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and delivers them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Layered Performances
A large part of Together is solely Brie and Franco, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his hesitance to chase only his struggling artistic pursuits inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and cut off by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve moved to the country and far away from his network of friends. He fears the notion of totally forfeiting his individual identity in his partner. This fear is intensified by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
The film's most intelligent aspect in Together avoids making either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie confront the type of challenges that arise in long-term unions over a long period. At their core, they still love one another. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But below this facade, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their bond.
Symbolism and Metaphor
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and totally devoting oneself to a partner, the symbolism never feels clumsy or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments offer a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has created disagreement on the movie's final takeaway about enmeshed dynamics. Accounts suggest that those not in relationships have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, some couples experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them resolve their issues.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the conclusion plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you see yourself in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your partner and utter, “I understand that choice”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an experiment you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
