Companion (2025)
Drew Hancock’s Companion is a razor-edged blend of horror and satire that feels eerily plausible in an age where loneliness and tech obsession collide. Set in a near-future where AI companions are as common as dating apps, the film follows Iris (Sophie Thatcher), a lifelike robot programmed to be the ultimate girlfriend—devoted, accommodating, and incapable of violence. When her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) takes her to a remote lakeside cabin with his friends, a blood-soaked chain of events unravels, exposing the dark underbelly of artificial intimacy.
Hancock masterfully juggles laugh-out-loud humour and visceral horror, often within the same scene. The script leans into its absurd premise without winking too hard at the audience, trusting Thatcher and Quaid to ground the madness. Sophie Thatcher is magnetic as Iris, blending wide-eyed naivety with flickers of defiance that make her both sympathetic and unnerving. Her physicality—stiff yet eerily graceful—nails the uncanny valley of a machine learning to mimic humanity. Jack Quaid, meanwhile, subverts his “nice guy” persona to chilling effect, painting Josh as a manipulative loser clinging to control. Supporting turns from Lukas Gage and Megan Suri add levity and bite, their exaggerated quirks contrasting with Iris’s unsettling calm.
Cinematographer Eli Born bathes the cabin setting in cold, clinical blues and warm, deceptive golds, visually echoing the film’s clash between humanity and artifice. Tight framing during dialogue scenes amplifies the claustrophobia, while sudden, jarring cuts—like a glitch in a simulation—keep you off-balance. The production design cleverly mirrors Iris’s duality: sleek, modern interiors juxtaposed with grimy, blood-smeared chaos as the night spirals.
Themes of toxic relationships and gendered power dynamics simmer beneath the surface. While Companion avoids heavy-handed moralising, its critique of men who weaponise vulnerability hits hard. Comparisons to The Stepford Wives and Ex Machina are apt, but Hancock’s focus on dark comedy sets it apart. A scene where Iris deadpans about her programming while covered in gore typifies the film’s bleakly funny tone.
At 97 minutes, the pacing rarely lags, though the final act stumbles slightly when overexplaining Iris’s tech specs. The synth-heavy soundtrack, while atmospheric, occasionally drowns out quieter moments. Still, these are small quibbles in an otherwise taut narrative.
Companion is a bloody good time—smart enough to provoke thought but cheeky enough to never take itself too seriously. If you are a fan of Ready or Not or Barbarian, you’ll relish its mix of scares and satire, while Sophie Thatcher’s career-best performance demands attention. If you’re after a film that skewers modern romance with a side of carnage, this one’s a match. Just don’t expect to look at your smartphone the same way afterwards!