‘Companion’ Is a Raucous Horror-Comedy About Control Gone Wrong

Companion
Writer: Drew Hancock
Director: Drew Hancock
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend

So much great horror is about control, specifically about the fear that comes from realizing we don't have it. The Exorcist is about how scary it is to see something happening to your child that you can't control. Get Out is about how scary it is to see something happening to yourself and everyone like you that you can't control. Even Frankenstein, one of the oldest and most retold of all horror stories, is about not just the horror of losing the reins of something you created, but the horror of realizing you're a creation, and your own destiny is wrapped up in someone else.

This last theme, one of the most potent in the whole genre, is especially important to Companion, the new horror film written and directed by Drew Hancock. Set in an age when so many are using often dodgy technology to reach new means of control, and in a time when so many more are convinced that the control they deserve has been denied, Companion is a remarkable dive into the various systems of control and being controlled that hold sway in our world. It's also, beyond all its heavy themes and big ideas, a hell of a good time at the movies.

The "Companion" of the title is Iris (Sophie Thatcher), a young woman who's on her way to a lake house for a weekend getaway with her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) and his friends. Though her relationship feels rock solid, Iris is consumed by the typical worries that come with spending time with a partner's friend group. What if they don't like her? What if she's weird? What if she can't form closer bonds with them like Josh has? 

But Iris has other problems, ones she's not even aware of as the getaway begins. You see, Iris is actually [slight spoilers here for anyone who wants to go in super blind] a robot, a companion in the sense that she was literally designed by a tech company to be a romantic partner for a buyer — in this case Josh. Her programming compels her to do and be certain things, including never know that she's an artificial being. But her programming can also be altered, and in this case Josh has done something to make her an unwitting participant in a violent, brutal plot.

That's all I'll say about the plot here, but even this simple scenario is laced through with loads of potential as a story about the horrors of the controlled and the controlling, potential that Hancock's very solid, very witty script never misses an opportunity to run with. It starts with simple things, like the realization that Josh's friends are weird about Iris because they know what she is. Then the film digs deeper, asking questions about what kind of man Josh is, what autonomy Iris actually has, and how far she'll go to keep the agency she can scrape together.

It all results in a blind that's part survival horror, part party horror, and all sci-fi horror. But what really makes it work is how much Companion relies on character above concept. The notion of a artificial human in the age of generative AI is a smart one, but the film never treats Iris as less than human, nor is it interested in unpacking the implications of her very existence. Instead, it's interested in Iris as a metaphorical representation of the ways in which entitled men seek to control women, seek to parade them around as achievements in their own lives rather than fully realized humans with minds of their own. It's a film with a canny eye for highlighting the humanity and humor behind its lofty concepts, and Hancock's way of lacing that humanity with moments of almost cartoonish brutality means that it all goes down smooth.

The cast is also key to pulling this off, of course, and it's here that Thatcher absolutely shines. She's spent years cementing herself as a force in the horror world through everything from Yellowjackets to last year's standout Heretic. With Iris she's found one of her meatiest, most compelling roles so far. We find true connection with her, even when we're well aware of what she is. That's thanks to Thatcher's beautifully vulnerable performance. With Quaid beside her, playing the Shitty Boyfriend with a million-watt smile, and a scene-stealing performance from Harvey Guillén as one of Josh's friends, the movie crackles with amazing ensemble energy — but it's always clear that this is Thatcher's show, and she's ready for the moment. 

Though it perhaps doesn't go as far as it could have with some of its ideas and story threads, Companion emerges by the end as the perfect 90-minute horror comedy, a film that meets its themes and its moment in horror history with style, humor, and unhinged power. It's a raucous, wild 90 minutes at the movies, and when it's over you'll want to bring your friends back to the theater for more.