We present a dare for partners in committed relationships who appreciate scary movies: Sit down with your partner and stream Together. The critically acclaimed 2025 movie just made its online premiere on the Hulu service. On the surface, it may seem like conventional body horror, but beneath Together lies a deep meditation about how we choose to love our partners.
A Directorial Debut Exploring Partnership Complexities
Together represents the first full-length movie for director Michael Shanks. It stars Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple named Tim and Millie, an unmarried couple that have remained a couple for over ten years. Married in real life in 2017, Franco and Brie contribute a particular energy to their roles, skillfully embodying both the good and bad of a long-term relationship.
The story starts when Millie and Tim transition from the metropolis to the countryside for Millie’s job. A familiar story element, sure, but that’s mostly where the conventions end. Together evolves into as much a deep dive into the psyche of the couple's dynamic as it is a film about physical terror.
An Otherworldly Trigger
While hiking near their new home, a violent storm occurs, and Millie and Tim fall into an underground cave. After being trapped overnight there and managing to escape, a strange force starts to affect the pair. This force induces a paranormal intimacy between them that goes exceeding emotional intimacy.
The whole movie is a gradually intensifying fright fest, weaving in bits of fever-dream horrors, disturbing (but tastefully done) biological grotesqueries, and surprisingly comedic exchanges (sometimes during something grotesque). Shanks skillfully blends these components expertly and delivers them in a consistently growing aura of dread.
Nuanced Portrayals
A significant portion of Together is exclusively the performances of its stars, and they skillfully illustrate countless layers to the partnership at the film's core. Millie's sense of self and emotional bond is suffering due to a lack of intimacy. Her underlying frustration of Tim for his unwillingness to focus on anything other than his struggling artistic pursuits gradually emerges.
Conversely, Tim senses confinement and isolated by Millie, who’s the reason they’ve relocated rural and distant from his network of friends. He fears the concept of utterly sacrificing his sense of self in his partner. This fear is amplified by the fact he can’t drive and relies on Millie for transportation.
Shanks’ smartest move is that he never makes Tim or Millie the obvious villain.
Both characters face the type of challenges that come with most partnerships after ten years. Fundamentally, they continue to care for each other. They still laugh together, comfort one another, and open up at times. But beneath it all, there’s an unavoidable feeling of questioning about their relationship.
Allegory and Meaning
While the paranormal elements in Together represent these anxieties of excessive reliance and fully committing to another person, the metaphor never feels overly obvious or heavy-handed. Instead, these ickier, creepier moments present a ideal counterpart to the relationship narrative. Both the horror and the drama work together symbiotically.
A Controversial Conclusion
Together’s final act, which is best experienced firsthand, has sparked debate on the movie's final takeaway about codependent relationships. Accounts suggest that single viewers have understood the narrative as a strong argument for avoiding commitment. Conversely, certain partners who were in conflict found that the film ended up guiding them to reconcile.
Whether you’re single or coupled up, your own response could potentially serve as a telling indicator of how you perceive partnership. Will the finale sow feelings of uneasiness and dread, or a uplifting feeling of optimism? Will you recognize your own traits in either protagonist and scream at your TV, or simply glance toward your partner and state, “I’d do that for you”?
No matter your reaction, Together is an exploration you can experience right now.
Together is currently playing on Hulu's platform at present.
