Companion Review
We’ve been spoilt for choice with horrors this year and right at the end of January comes Companion, shooting all your traditional scary-movie tropes out of the water. The latest feature from Drew Hancock has been all the rage since its teaser trailer released at the end of 2024, depicting a dysfunctional relationship of sorts between co-stars Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid. It’s fair to say Companion lived up to its hype, delivering violent twists and technological turns galore.
Companion opens with the inner monologue of Iris (played by Thatcher), a delicate, dainty woman with an irresistible charm, drawn deeply into an obsessive love with Josh (played by Quaid) following a cheesy grocery-store meet-cute. As they take an automated drive to a cabin in an isolated part of the woods, it becomes clear that Iris isn’t the unseemly girlfriend, and nor is Josh the ever-loyal boyfriend. In fact, Companion is a film centered around deception and its thrills – even if the second trailer and its subsequent marketing spoiled its biggest plot point!
Director Drew Hancock has taken the cult classic Ex Machina, the modern AI horror M3GAN, and through Thatcher’s Iris, has capitalised on the controversy and hype around artificial intelligence and its consequences. As detailed in the second trailer, Iris is in fact a robot made by a fictional company called Empathix; selling companions like Iris to a shut-in, cocky, single men like Josh. It is very clear Hancock’s intentions weren’t just to thrill, but to mock: Companion is a fantastic satire on the tech-bro persona with an equally entertaining revenge arc.
MORE: Read our review of September 5 here
Casting Harvey Guillén of What We Do In The Shadows fame helps push Companion away from the darkness of a slasher film and instead steers it toward the lightness of a horror-comedy. The ensemble cast of Suri, Guillén, and Gage complements the absurdity of Iris and Josh’s relationships whilst refreshingly contrasting the often-tense chase sequences; making the 90-minute runtime fly by even quicker than expected.
Although the cartoonish humour was a welcomed spin on this mostly over-dramatic genre of film, there was definitely room for the horror elements to stand out a little more prominently. Even during the film’s most suspenseful moments, Hancock manages to wrestle with a few cliché jokes that tend to undercut the tension. Nevertheless, Companion bears all the hallmarks of a cult favourite with Iris’ iconic costumes, Josh’s caricature of the typical ‘nice guy’, and the comedic comfort of Guillén’s timing.
★★★★
In UK cinemas January 31st / Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Lukas Gage / Dir: Drew Hancock / Warner Brothers / 15
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