Here's a test for long-term couples who appreciate the horror genre: Get comfortable with your loved one and watch Together. This independent film success of 2025 recently had its launch on a streaming platform on Hulu. At first glance, it could look like standard physical horror, but beneath Together exists a deep meditation about how we choose to love each other.
A Debut Feature Exploring Relationship Dynamics
Together marks the first full-length movie for filmmaker Michael Shanks. It features the real-life married couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie as Millie and Tim, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Having wed in reality in 2017, the actors bring a special spark to their characters, masterfully depicting both the joys and frustrations of a committed partnership.
The plot commences when the couple relocate from the metropolis to the countryside for professional reasons. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s primarily where the tropes end. Together evolves into as much a psychological exploration of the couple's dynamic as it is a movie featuring biological frights.
A Paranormal Spark
While trekking near their new home, a tempest descends, and the protagonists discover an hole in the earth. After a night spent there and eventually escaping, a strange force takes hold of the couple. This force creates a supernatural closeness between them that goes far beyond simple connection.
The entire film is a gradually intensifying fright fest, interspersing elements of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) body horror, and genuinely funny interactions (sometimes in the middle of something grotesque). The director weaves these elements together neatly and presents them in a slowly mounting sense of impending doom.
Complex Characterizations
A great deal of Together is solely the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate numerous complexities to the characters’ relationship. Millie's sense of self and sense of connection is deteriorating due to a distance. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his reluctance to pursue anything but his floundering music career gradually emerges.
In contrast, Tim's character senses confinement and separated by Millie, who’s the impetus they’ve relocated rural and distant from his support system. He fears the concept of completely losing his personal autonomy in another person. This fear is further exacerbated by the reality he can’t drive and relies on Millie for mobility.
The director's cleverest decision in Together never makes Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Both characters grapple with the type of challenges that come with most partnerships a decade in. Deep down, they continue to care for one another. They share moments of joy, comfort one another, and are vulnerable at times. But under the surface, there’s an persistent undercurrent of doubt about their future together.
Thematic Depth
While the supernatural forces in Together represent these concerns of codependency and totally devoting oneself to another person, the metaphor avoids being hamfisted or self-important. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments provide a perfect parallel to the interpersonal storytelling. Both the supernatural and the personal enhance each other in a mutually beneficial way.
A Debated Finale
Together’s conclusion, which remains unspoiled, has sparked debate on the story's concluding statement about codependent relationships. It has been said that those not in relationships have interpreted the film as a compelling reason for avoiding commitment. Meanwhile, a few pairs experiencing tension found that the film actually helped them reconcile.
Regardless of your relationship status, your own response could function as a great barometer of how you think about commitment. Will the finale inspire feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a positive outlook on love? Will you identify in either protagonist and feel frustration, or simply turn to your other half 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 the streaming service Hulu as of this moment.
