Consider this a test for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Settle in with your partner and view Together. This critically acclaimed 2025 movie recently had its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it might appear like standard physical horror, but beneath Together lies a deep contemplation about our choices in loving our partners.
A Directorial Debut Delving into Partnership Complexities
Together is the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It showcases the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, a pair who are not married that have stayed together for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, the actors bring a particular energy to their portrayals, masterfully depicting both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The narrative starts when Millie and Tim relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar plot device, sure, but that’s mostly where the cliches cease. Together evolves into as much a examination of mental states of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
A Supernatural Catalyst
While hiking near their rural residence, a tempest descends, and the two fall into an underground cave. After a night spent there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence takes hold of the couple. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying horror experience, weaving in elements of hallucinatory nightmares, disturbing (but not excessively graphic) biological grotesqueries, and genuinely funny exchanges (sometimes during something horrific). Shanks weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a gradually swelling atmosphere of fear.
Nuanced Portrayals
A large part of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they masterfully render countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie’s confidence and feeling of intimacy is waning due to a lack of intimacy. Her subconscious resentment of Tim for his unwillingness to chase only his floundering music career inexorably rises.
In contrast, Tim's character feels trapped and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve left the city and distant from his social circle. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is intensified by the circumstance he does not operate a vehicle and needs Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in this movie never makes either of his characters the clear bad guy.
Tim and Millie grapple with the type of challenges that come with any relationship after ten years. At their core, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and share intimately at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable current of uncertainty about their bond.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to another person, the allegory never feels overly obvious or self-important. Instead, these more disturbing, unsettling scenes offer a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the horror and the drama work together in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has left audiences divided on the movie's final takeaway about unhealthy partnerships. Accounts suggest that unattached audience members have understood the narrative as a powerful case for avoiding commitment. On the other hand, some couples who were in conflict found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could potentially serve as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending plant a sense of discomfort and fear, or a heartwarming sense of hope? Will you identify in one of the characters and feel frustration, or simply look at your significant other and utter, “I’d do that for you”?
Whatever the case may be, Together is an experiment you can experience at this very moment.
Together is available to watch on the streaming service Hulu now.
