Loved-up couple Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) head off for a weekend getaway of what they think will be rustic living, only to find that their accommodation is far swankier than the cabin they’d expected. The place is owned by the well to do, slightly scary Sergey (Rupert Friend) who is currently is involved in a fling with Jack’s friend Kat (Megan Suri). Rounding out the party sextet is the unrelentingly sweet pairing of Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage). Iris worries that Kat hates her, but that will turn out to be the very least of her worries…
The trailers for writer/director Drew Hancock’s debut cinema venture made a neat joke about how it was from the studio that brought you The Notebook and the folks behind Barbarian, promising a union of the romantic and the plain batshit crazy. While Companion doesn’t quite reach the latter title’s extremes, nor does it aim to, it still contains a whole host of “oh, they went there” moments, sparked by the early deployment of a central twist which is merely a stepping off point for a highly imaginative, escalating nightmare.
Even the opening sequence – a fruit-based meet-cute between Iris and Josh in a grocery store – is shot as though something’s not quite right, but it’s the discovering of that which means that even a viewing of the trailer is a potential spoiler. Or is it? Don’t read the summary on IMDb, it wrecks the initial surprise and even if you do predict that first act reveal, it’s still a more rewarding feeling than waiting for it to drop and then wondering where the story will head next.
If you are in the camp who did have it spoiled by others, it isn’t like you’re not going to have a good time, as Hancock has a series of hilarious or horrific (or hilarious and horrific) developments lined up while making pithy observations on the state of relationships, be it with the opposite sex or with our smartphones. It’s no great spoiler to divulge that things go wrong – you can’t get six people together in a remote location and have the weekend pass without incident, them’s the rules – but it’s just how, when and why things may go wrong and how much worse things can get which provides the entertainment.
The CVs of the assembled cast feed into the ongoing guessing game. What We Do In The Shadows fans will be intrigued to find out whether Guillén reprises his overqualified doormat role and aficionados of Quaid’s work will wonder just where Josh will sit on his The Boys to Scream VI continuum. Every player in this is given lines which the viewer will feel are so on the nose that a rug pull can’t be far away. I’m not telling.
In a movie of excellent performances, there’s none more excellent than that of Sophie Thatcher, bringing a depth and mystery to Iris that propels the plot and makes it impossible to take your eyes off her. Initially presented as the doting, dutiful girlfriend, is there something about her eagerness to please that isn’t quite on the level, or is she wired to be a genuinely nice person? Again, I’m not telling.
Suffice to say, the tension builds, the early details woven into the tale pay off in spades along the way and the final act delivers on high stakes showdowns and satisfying resolutions, ending with a sequence which is loaded with extraordinary ramifications. I left the cinema with a huge grin on my face, but also a number of questions as to the possible next chapters without ever feeling the need for a sequel.
In years gone by, the early part of the year was considered a graveyard for genre movie releases, a place where failed horror and thriller titles sneaked into cinemas in the hope that they’d make a modest amount of cash from shock-starved fans before slinking off to die quietly on disc on the shelves of Asda. Not so nowadays. Companion disproves that old adage and then some. It made me laugh, it made me grimace, it made me mad, it made me excited, it even made me gasp on occasion. It’s a strong contender for my Top Ten Horror Movies of 2025 and we’re only just into February. Yes, it’s that good. It also includes an eyebrow raise for the ages. See it before someone you know sees it and can’t resist letting you know every single thing about it.
Companion is appearing in cinemas now.