Companion (2025) Review: Sophie Thatcher Excels in This Twisty, Darkly Satirical Horror

The Warner Bros. marketing team deserves a pat on the back for dropping a buzz-worthy teaser trailer of Companion last year. However, they chose to drop the ball with the subsequent trailer by giving away the spoiler. This reminds me of how Paramount did the same thing with the otherwise ill-fated Terminator: Genisys trailer ten years ago.

Either way, I’m still curious what writer-director Drew Hancock, making his feature-length debut here has in store that may or may not distinguish Companion from the like-minded robot/A.I.-gone-amok subgenre seen in the likes of Ex Machina and M3GAN. Part of me expects him to come up with something refreshingly novel since the subgenre has been done to death.

Instead, he chooses to ride on the familiarity but the good news is that the movie doesn’t feel uninspired and trite, thanks to his genre know-how direction. That spoiler in the new trailer? Well, I’m happy to inform you that’s only part of it since Hancock actually offers more in his movie, which awaits you to unpack when you watch it in its entirety.

Anyway, here is what you need to know about the story: It starts with a meet-cute scenario straight out of a romantic comedy template as we first see how Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) lay eyes on each other. It’s love at first sight, particularly for Iris who is over the moon falling for her perfect Mr Right.

Then, one day the pair heads to a remote lake house located in a countryside area for a weekend getaway. From there, Iris meets Jack’s friends including Kat (Megan Suri) and her rich Russian boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Friend) along with a pair of gay couple, Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage).

After spending time getting to know each other and having a great time partying, Josh suffers a bad hangover the next morning and decides to take a rain check, even though he and Iris are supposed to head out for a walk to the lake. What follows next is something that you have to see for yourself as Hancock pulls off a few nifty narrative surprises.

The story gamely alternates between romance, horror, and thriller as well as lighthearted and pitch-black comedy elements while keeping the pace brisk. Hancock doesn’t shy away from graphic violence and in-your-face gore and he sure knows how to stage a mean, thrilling set piece (the scene revolving around a sheriff comes to mind).

He also manages to slip some subtle social commentary and thematic subjects about patriarchy, misogyny and identity that Companion isn’t just a strictly genre movie. The movie equally benefits from a great young cast, notably Sophie Thatcher who impresses with her game performance as Iris, proving she’s the go-to actress in the horror genre after The Boogeyman and last year’s Heretic. The rest of the cast is just as commendable: Quaid delivers enough charm to his seemingly idealistic boyfriend character while others such as Rupert Friend do a good job playing the sleazy Sergey, complete with a mullet and a walrus-like moustache.

Looking from the technical perspective, Eli Born’s crisply-shot widescreen cinematography and Hancock’s astute shot composition are worth mentioning here. Interestingly, Zach Cregger of 2022’s Barbarian fame was originally set to direct Companion, only for him to back out to make way for Drew Hancock instead but he remains as one of the producers.

While I appreciate the movie’s lean 97-minute length, I can’t help but wish Hancock could have pushed more visceral thrills in the climactic payoff, especially the one that is obviously paying homage to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The shortcomings aside, Hancock remains a promising director to watch for in the future.