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Think back to The Stepford Wives (both versions). Add a layer of killer doll movie M3gan. Throw in a bit of the whimsical 2013 Oscar winning Her. Season with a bit of the brilliant German robot perfect man comedy I’m Your Man. Sprinkle a bit of Pygmalion. Then add the unexpected horror turns of 2022’s sleeper Barbarian, and – VOILA! -you have the recipe for the deliciously fun new AI flick, Companion.
In fact this film comes from the BoulderLight production company responsible for Barbarian, one of the most satisfying films in recent years in the overall horror genre, but don’t let that label fool you. Companion is also a movie that defies mere labeling and it is all the better for it. The plot revolves around a weekend getaway at a picaresque cabin in the woods. Three couples gather,most notably Josh (Jack Quaid) and his girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) whom he is bringing to meet his friends that also include gay couple Eli (Harvey Guillen of What We Do In The Shadows) and his hottie Silver Lake chef bf Patrick (Lukas Gage), and Russian billionaire Sergey (Rupert Friend) and perhaps not-to-be-trusted mate, Kat (Megan Suri). Things seem normal at first as they all get settled in, even as Josh appears a bit too dominating over demure Iris at first. It doesn’t take too long before it’s revealed that Iris is in fact not human, and admittedly on his part a sometimes “f**k bot”, a robot in perfect unmistakable human form whom he controls emotionally on a tech scale from 1 to 100 (a plot point that comes into play in a big way).
Trouble begins when Iris is left alone outside with the obnoxious and agressive Sergey who makes a sexual play for her. It doesn’t go well for him as Iris returns to the house covered in blood. His blood. The stage is set for the horror to come, but this is no M3GAN, no killer doll or mad robot movie but rather one where the bot is ironically the most humane of everyone in this circle. Writer/Director Drew Hancock (My Dead Ex, Suburgatory) takes the story at this point away from expectations of a Final Destination-style story in which nearly everyone will end up dead, and instead surprisingly into a devious noirish kind of thriller that goes well beyond just a robot in human form careening out of control. No spoilers, but not everyone here is on the up and up and there are plenty of character turns that keep us engaged throughout.
Thatcher has an intriguing screen presence, shown off last year with another horror hybrid in Heretic opposite an against-type Hugh Grant. Here she fits the bill of Iris with perfection, no easy task because if we don’t believe her and root for her the whole souffle falls. Quaid, a kind of new age Henry Higgins, but with questionable actions is just right as Josh. Guillen is ideally cast as the overweight object of affection for Gage’s Patrick who is a guy smitten for Eli even if we can’t understand the attraction. Don’t worry it will be explained. Suri also delivers as Kat, a woman who knows how to play the game in the wickedly funny and entertaining mix of genres that in the end finds its own level of originality.
Producers of the New Line Cinema release for BoulderLight are Raphael Margules, J.D. Lifschitz, Zack Cregger, Roy Lee.
Title: Companion
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Release Date: January 31, 2025
Director/Screenplay: Drew Hancock
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Havey Guillen, Rupert Friend.
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour and 37 minutes
