Here's a challenge for partners in committed relationships who appreciate scary movies: Settle in with your significant other and watch Together. The independent film success of 2025 has now made its launch on a streaming platform via Hulu. At first glance, it could look like typical body horror, but beneath Together resides a intense examination about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together represents the introductory feature for director Michael Shanks. It showcases Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have been together for a decade. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie bring a unique chemistry to their roles, expertly portraying both the strengths and weaknesses of a committed partnership.
The narrative starts when Tim and Millie move from the big city to the countryside for Millie’s job. A commonly used plot device, admittedly, but that’s mostly where the conventions cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While trekking near their rural residence, a storm hits, and the two tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a strange force begins influencing the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The whole movie is a slow burn of scares, interspersing elements of dreamlike terrors, gross (but never too gross) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny dialogue (sometimes during something disturbing). Michael Shanks orchestrates these parts expertly and wraps them up in a slowly mounting aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
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. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is waning due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his hesitance to pursue anything but his struggling artistic pursuits slowly bubbles to the surface.
In contrast, Tim's character experiences isolation and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve moved to the country and far away from his support system. He is terrified of the idea of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the fact he lacks a driver's license and is dependent on Millie for mobility.
Shanks’ smartest move in Together avoids making Tim or Millie the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie grapple with the kind of problems that arise in most partnerships after ten years. Fundamentally, they still love one another. They find humor with each other, offer support, and open up at times. But below this facade, there’s an unavoidable undercurrent of doubt about their relationship.
Thematic Depth
While the otherworldly presence in Together symbolize these fears of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the metaphor does not come across as overly obvious or pretentious. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes present a ideal counterpart to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal work together in harmony.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have interpreted the film as a powerful case for remaining unattached. Conversely, a few pairs who were in conflict found that the film ultimately assisted them make up.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a great barometer of how you view relationships. Will the conclusion plant feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you see yourself in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your partner and say, “I understand that choice”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an exploration you can experience today.
Together is currently playing on the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
