Companion review

COMPANION: 

NOTHING SAYS DATE NIGHT LIKE A MOVIE WITH SEX ROBOTS AND MURDER! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES AND NEW LINE CINEMA

Sophie Thatcher in Companion

 

            In the tradition of Ex-Machina, Zach Cregger (The Whitest Kids U’ Know, Barbarian) and newcomer director, Drew Hancock bring their take on artificial intelligence gaining consciousness and human emotions in the new horror-comedy, Companion. I was looking forward to this movie ever since I first saw the trailer which brilliantly made it out to look like it was going to be a romance movie and even said at the beginning “From the studio that brought you The Notebook” and then got more deranged and twisted as the trailer went on. 

            I loved Barbarian when I saw it in 2022 and hailed it as one of the best modern horror films of the 2020s even though Cregger is only a producer on this movie and did not direct. So, I was very much onboard for the film from the beginning and…Damn! 

            This is a really fucking good movie and a perfect example of what January horror releases should strive to be like. The film is very smart, really funny, and keeps you on the edge of your seat while also offering a surprisingly thought-provoking story about AI and domestic relationships. 

            The film follows Iris (Sophie Thatcher-The Boogeyman, The Book of Boba Fett, Heretic) and her boyfriend, Josh (Jack Quaid-Scream 5 and 6, Oppenheimer, Novocaine) heading to a remote cabin for a weekend getaway with friends. However, this vacation immediately erupts into chaos when Iris makes the horrific discovery that she’s actually a companion robot and that her relationship with Josh isn’t all it’s cracked up to be…oh, and she murdered someone and now she’s on the run.

            The film also stars Lukas Gage (Euphoria, Fargo, Smile 2) as Patrick, Megan Suri (Never Have I Ever, Missing) as Kat, Harvey Guillén (What We Do in the Shadows, Blue Beetle, Wish) as Eli, Rupert Friend (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Young Victoria, A Simple Favor) as Sergey, Jaboukie Young-White (C’mon C’mon, Strange World, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken) as Teddy, Matt McCarthy (Conan, The Pete Holmes Show) as Sid, and Marc Menchaca (The Alamo, Sick, The Creator) as Deputy Hendrix.

            Overall, Companion is an absolutely demented fun time and a stellar first directing effort for Drew Hancock. Where Barbarian felt like a horror movie with occasional comedic moments sprinkled in, this is a full-on horror-comedy that can be best described as Ex-Machina if it had the darkly comical tone of M3GAN…with some R-rated gore thrown in. 

            The movie is very funny with a lot of the comedy coming from reactions by Iris, Josh, or any of the other characters to what’s going on or sassy and wisecrack remarks from Iris or Josh and the majority of them get laughs. But the humor never overshadows the intrigue or suspense which I appreciate, all three complement each other perfectly here. 

            It also has plenty of fun and suspenseful horror moments as well like a sequence where Iris makes a harrowing escape from her former friends that are trying to hunt her down after discovering the truth about herself and a chilling scene towards the climax where she’s ordered to put her arm directly above a lit candle that’s slowly burning her hand skin. The movie isn’t a full-on gore-fest, but a lot of the impacts feel very fleshy and meaty like one scene in particular involving a police deputy and another person who turns out to be a robot, you legit wince at some of the painful blows characters endure in this movie. 

            However, with all the horror and dark humor, the movie truly shines with its comparison of artificial intelligence programming and human emotions. It’s very much like what Ava had to deal with in Ex-Machina and the same thing applies to Iris in Companion where it cleverly asks the audience if robots or AI have programming then isn’t that kind of like how our emotions work as human beings? I love how the movie dives into it and that it doesn’t hammer the message in, it lets the audience think about it long after the film ends and will likely lead to some fascinating interpretations. 

            Sure, the movie is also an allegory on domestic relationships which is handled very well here. But it ties back into the robot’s programming being depicted like real emotions where her logic and emotional brains are seeing both sides of the person they’re in love with but also know their life would probably be better if they leave him/her which I honestly found more effective and endearing than typical melodramatic films about toxic relationships. 

            The performances are great especially from Sophie Thatcher as Iris who was already a standout in last year’sHeretic. However, in this she carries the entire movie and often she doesn’t even need to say a line to convey how she’s feeling, you can read exactly who this character is and what she’s like just by looking at Thatcher’s facial expressions. 

            But when it comes to making sassy and wise-ass remarks towards her douchebag boyfriend and killing those who stand in her way, she delivers on those as well. Hugh Grant was the big standout in Heretic, but his co-star, Sophie Thatcher is the big standout of this film. 

            Jack Quaid is also fun as Iris’ seemingly charming but secretly devious boyfriend/human owner. He does a great job flipflopping between legitimately caring about Iris to being a sleazy scumbag who deserves to get his bloody comeuppance by the end of the movie. 

            The new year has just begun and yet I already found one of the best films of 2025, Companion is a clever, funny, and wildly entertaining ride from beginning to end. Drew Hancock knocked it out of the park with his directorial debut and I eagerly await what comes next in his filmmaking career because this was a blast.