‘Companion’ Review: Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid Star in a Nasty Treat of a Sci-Fi Thriller

“There’ve been two moments in my life when I was happiest. The first was the day I met Josh. And the second was the day I killed him.”

Those lines are uttered at the beginning of the new sci-fi-tinged thriller written and directed by Drew Hancock, and they also appear in the film’s trailer. It’s as good an opening as anything ever written by Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler, and it instantly signals that Companion is going to be a cut above your average suspenser.

The storyline revolves around a delicious plot twist that the film’s trailer unfortunately gives away in wanton fashion, so my presenting a spoiler alert seems a bit superfluous. But here it is anyway; the less you know about Companion going in, the better. So, if you want to maximize your enjoyment, best stop reading now.

Still here? So be it, but I’ll try not to give away too much. The film begins with Iris (Sophie Thatcher, Yellowjackets) and Josh (Jack Quaid, The Boys) having a meet-cute in a supermarket. Zip forward to when they’re now a couple, spending a weekend with some friends at what was supposed to be a remote cabin in the woods that turns out to be the palatial digs of shady Russian businessman Sergey (Rupert Friend, enjoyably relishing the thick accent). The other guests are Josh’s friend Kat (Megan Suri, It Lives Inside), now Sergey’s girlfriend, and longtime gay couple Eli (Harvey Guillén, What We Do in the Shadows) and Patrick (Lukas Gage). They all settle in to enjoy the well-stocked home and the gorgeous nearby lake.

That is, until Sergey turns out to be even more of a creep than he initially seemed and sexually assaults Iris, who stabs him to death in self-defense. And that’s when the real plot kicks in, with the revelation that Iris is actually a “companion” robot (one with benefits) and the get-together is actually an elaborate plot devised by Josh and Kat to rob Sergey of the millions in cash stored in his safe.

The film gets even loopier from there, with multiple complications ensuing as Iris demonstrates that she’s no mere docile appliance but rather more than capable of thinking for herself, at least when Josh isn’t programming her via his cell phone. The film delivers even more deliciously nasty surprises along the way as the body count continues to rise.

This is the debut screenplay of Hancock, with the film originally supposed to be directed by horror filmmaker-on-the-rise Zach Cregger, responsible for the surprise hit Barbarian (that film’s producers are involved here as well), who graciously stepped aside to let Hancock take the helm. The tyro director steps up to the plate beautifully, delivering an ingenious, fast-paced horror-thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat while also featuring generous doses of mordant humor. As with the best films of its type, Companion works on more than a surface B-movie level, providing sly satirical commentary about power dynamics in romantic relationships to which more than a few audience members will be able to relate.

Thatcher, a scream queen in the making (she also starred in 2023’s The Boogeyman), delivers a terrific turn in the central role, fully convincing as both human and robot and making her artificial character’s struggle to survive sympathetic. Quaid is equally good as the seemingly perfect boyfriend who turns out to be the villain of the piece, investing his portrayal with a disarming charm, while Guillén and Gage provide sterling support as the sweet couple whose relationship is not quite what it seems.

A potential sleeper hit that belies January’s reputation as a cinematic dumping ground, Companion marks writer-director Hancock as a true talent to watch.