
By Becca Johnson - February 1, 2025
A directorial feature debut from Drew Hancock delivered by the same team who gave us 2022 fan-favourite Barbarian, Companion is a horror comedy that many are highly anticipating due to the filmmaking team and cast. Best viewed with as little plot information as possible, Companion follows Iris and her group of friends, whose weekend trip goes incredibly awry after the death of a billionaire.
It promises a ‘different kind of love story’, and as suggested by the trailer, Iris may not be entirely human. Superbly acted by a great ensemble cast and offering up plenty of laughs alongside its violent nature, Companion is fun and memorable with plenty of unique flair.
From M3GAN to Afraid, Childs Play (2019) to Subservience, the horror genre is rife with technology-based films centering on AI, robots and dolls. Despite this, Companion manages to do something a little different, thus ensuring that if and when audiences tire of this theme, the blood won’t be on Companion’s hands. Any technology featured within the movie feels natural and realistic, from self-driving cars to Alexa-esque voice commands. It’s mostly believable and seamless, as it incorporates ideas that we can see coming to fruition in todays life.
Of course, the technological aspect of Sophie Thatcher’s (Heretic) Iris is a little more far fetched, but although it asks us to suspend disbelief, it’s incredibly exciting and unique. Managing to ace being both playfully fun and eerily frightening at the same time due to what this technology is able to achieve, Companion is full of good ideas that translate well on screen and keep things fresh at every turn. Eye colour and spoken language can change at the touch of a button, moods and morals can be altered and again we are reminded that it isn’t the tech we should be afraid of, it’s the humans using it.

Companion has a really clever script, written superbly by Hancock himself, that balances its tones with ease. On the one hand, this is an absolute blast, with plenty of laughs to be had that land nearly every time. Knowing it boasts a campy premise, it has many moments of comedic relief that plays well to a packed audience, delivered flawlessly by the entire cast. The writing knows when to be goofy as well as when to be serious, as to compliment the laugh-out-loud humour is both an important message and gory violence that horror fans are expecting. Never too ham-fisted with its messaging but getting the point across nonetheless, Companion reminds us that it isn’t the technology we should be afraid of, it’s the humans using it. We take the technology we are gifted, bend and break it to our advantage, then blame the tech and the creators - it’s a really interesting narrative and an idea worth exploring. Though much of the peril our characters are in is at the hands of the tech, there’s a lot more to it than that.
Companion certainly plays its cards right with the reveals, and those who felt the trailer spoiled too much can rest assured that the script has more tricks up its sleeve than what we already know. Reveals are well timed and surprisingly smart, and the violent sequences are placed sporadically enough to pack the punch needed and keep the audience entertained. It definitely plays it safe with the horror aspects and likely could’ve provided more, leading it closer to thriller territory than true horror, but the gnarly scenes we do receive are well crafted.

None of the above would be possible without a competent cast and luckily, we have a really good ensemble on our hands within Companion. Leading the group is Sophie Thatcher, who by now has really solidified herself as a modern scream queen to keep an eye on. Consecutively delivering fantastic performances in Heretic, MaXXXine, The Boogeyman and more, Companion may just be her most challenging role to date - she effortlessly crushes it. Flitting between all the different moods and motions that are expected of her, this turn is nothing short of star-making. Starring opposite is Jack Quaid (Scream, 2022), who delivers the charm that we’ve come to expect from him. The further the run-time progresses, the more his character chops and changes, and Quaid proves that he is more than up to the task. Whether we need him to be romantic, menacing or both at the same time, he aces it, and his chemistry with Thatcher is great. Lukas Gage (Smile 2) is also in here, and just like we’ve seen him doing for the last few years, he really steals all the screen-time he receives in an impressive supporting performance. Rupert Friend (Asteroid City), Megan Suri (Missing) and Harvey Guillen (Blue Beetle) also impress, particularly Guillen who has a clear proclivity for comedy, delivering all his laughs perfectly.
January is known as the dumping ground for movies, particularly horror, but Companion proves that this doesn’t always need to be the case. Smart, funny and inventive with its themes that sound familiar on paper but have a unique spin, Companion boasts fantastic performances, a pivotal message and competent filmmaking that makes it a must-watch for fans of the genre. It definitely could’ve incorporated more blood, gore and scares to satiate horror fans, and perhaps a theme or two could’ve been explored a touch further, but its ability to balance the themes of romance, violence and comedy with such ease make it easy to commend. Fun from start to finish, Companion is a blast that deserves to be seen with an audience.
Out now in cinemas


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