Consider this a test for partners in committed relationships who enjoy scary movies: Get comfortable with your significant other and stream Together. This 2025 indie hit has now made its online premiere on Hulu. At first glance, it may seem like standard body horror, but beneath Together resides a intense contemplation about the ways we decide to love one another.
A Debut Feature Delving into The Nuances of Love
Together marks the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It showcases actors Alison Brie and Dave Franco as Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have been together for a decade. United in marriage in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a unique chemistry to their characters, expertly portraying both the joys and frustrations of a enduring union.
The story commences when Millie and Tim move from the big city to the country for her career. A commonly used narrative setup, admittedly, but that’s primarily where the cliches end. Together transforms into as much a psychological exploration of the partnership as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their country house, a tempest descends, and the protagonists tumble into an hole in the earth. After being trapped overnight there and finally finding a way out, a mysterious influence starts to affect the pair. This force induces a supernatural closeness between them that goes exceeding typical partnership.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying of scares, interspersing bits of dreamlike terrors, gross (but never too gross) physical transformations, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes amidst something grotesque). Shanks orchestrates these parts seamlessly and presents them in a consistently growing sense of impending doom.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is only the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate manifold depths to the dynamic between Tim and Millie. Millie's sense of self and feeling of intimacy is suffering due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his failing musical ambitions slowly bubbles to the surface.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and cut off by Millie, who’s the cause they’ve left the city and distant from his network of friends. He fears the concept of totally forfeiting his personal autonomy in Millie. This fear is intensified by the fact he can’t drive and needs Millie for getting around.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Both characters confront the sort of issues that come with most partnerships over a long period. Fundamentally, they have affection for each other. They still laugh together, offer support, and are vulnerable at times. But beneath it all, there’s an inescapable undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these fears of unhealthy attachment and giving oneself over to a partner, the metaphor does not come across as hamfisted or pretentious. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a brilliant analogue to the relationship narrative. Both the frights and the fights serve the other symbiotically.
A Divisive Ending
Together’s final act, which won’t be spoiled here, has created disagreement on the story's concluding statement about enmeshed dynamics. It has been said that single viewers have seen the movie as a strong argument for remaining unattached. Meanwhile, certain partners experiencing tension found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
If you are alone or with a partner, your own reaction could act as a great barometer of how you perceive partnership. Will the ending sow a sense of discomfort and fear, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you identify in Tim or Millie and scream at your TV, or simply look at your significant other and say, “We could get through that together”?
Regardless of the outcome, Together is an test you can embark on today.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform as of this moment.
