
For decades Hollywood has been fixed on the potential robot uprising, an obsession that has often pitted humans against machines. Today, of course, that concern is even more prescient as AI becomes ubiquitous in our everyday lives, dumbing down works of art and destroying the environment in the process. But what if it’s really humanity that is the villain? Companion offers a relatively surface-level thriller that asks far bigger questions than its easygoing vibe might suggest.
COMPANION ★★★1/2 (3.5/4 stars) |
The film is a clever but never pretentious examination of how we might interact with realistic companion robots, which one character in the film describes as emotional support robots who fuck. But Companion isn’t about sex. Instead, in the guise of a murderous horror flick, it reflects on who is worth rooting for—the flawed human or the well-meaning robot? Written and directed by Drew Hancock, the film sticks the landing in a tight 97 minutes, never bogging things down the with world-building. Instead, it’s a cabin in the woods story with a twist and a bit of futuristic tech.
As the movie opens, we meet Iris (Sophie Thatcher, still in her horror era). She’s a sweet, wide-eyed young woman with neatly coiffed hair and a predilection for pink vintage attire. It’s love at first sight when she encounters Josh (Jack Quaid) in the produce section of a grocery store—he knocks the oranges loose and she giggles sweetly—and soon the couple are on their way for a romantic weekend with some of Josh’s friends at a remote house. Iris is nervous because she thinks the group dislikes her, a premonition that turns out to be partially true. The modern house belongs to a rich Russian guy named Sergey (Rupert Friend, absolutely milking it) who is dating Josh’s old friend Kat (Megan Suri). They’re joined by Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage), another couple with a charming meet-cute.

Iris is on edge, although she can’t quite discern why. Maybe it’s because Josh keeps whispering to Kat or because Josh sends her down to the lakeshore alone while he inserts a suspicious hard drive into his phone. Or perhaps it’s because Iris is a humanoid robot and Josh has jailbroken her for his own insidious means. The overzealous trailer has already revealed this tidbit, an enticing premise that becomes more enticing when you learn Josh can control Iris’s eye color, voice and intelligence from settings on his phone. But the rest of the movie unfurls with a chaotic delight as Iris attempts to regain control from Josh, a toxic male convinced he’s a good guy. It’s not as blood-soaked as you might expect, but there are some gory shockers and Hancock paces out the plot twists thoughtfully. And like in Ex Machina, you never know who else might be hiding metal hardware under their seemingly normal skin.
Sex dolls are, of course, real, although we are some time away from a robot as realistic as Iris, an artificial girlfriend who can express love, cry and feel pain. Josh clearly thrives on the control he has over her—a dream for a misogynist living in an Andrew Tate world—and sees her an object. That metaphor, especially in 2025, is blatant, but Hancock is careful not to overwork the sexist undertones. The real feat is that he gets the audience to root for the AI, not the humans. It’s difficult to feign any sympathy for Josh and his pals as they attempt to reset Iris after she claims her agency. Thatcher is charmingly effective as Iris as she becomes self-aware and then understandably angry. Gage, whose character becomes more interesting as the film unfold, is similarly winning. Best of all, Companion is fun. The onscreen scares are light, but what lingers is more frightening. As AI proliferates, how will we use it? And, more importantly, what will we do if it awakens to its existence as our slaves?