As one of the first horror film releases of 2025, Companion has set a precedent for quality writing and cleverness for 2025. Companion was released on January 31st in theaters, and is directed by Drew Hancock. This original sci-fi horror film tells the story of a young couple who visit a billionaire friend’s lakeside estate for a very eventful weekend getaway.
Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher play Josh and Iris, a peculiar young couple. Josh is controlling of Iris, speaking to her as less than and treating her like garbage. On the other hand, Iris has dedicated her life to her boyfriend.
Iris is blissfully unaware of the secret hidden below the surface that is the key to her and Josh’s relationship. When this secret is revealed to Iris, her objective changes from caring for her boyfriend’s health and well-being to caring for her own.
A minor spoiler related to the premise of this film lies ahead. If you have seen trailers or promotional material for this film, keep reading. If not, and you want to see the movie blind, stop reading!
Iris is a robot, but she doesn’t know. She is designed with a 1960s aesthetic and meek housewife tendencies. She is Josh’s “companion” robot, whose sole purpose is to be a romantic and domestic partner for a lonely, single Josh
When Iris finds out she is not human but instead a “companion” robot, she realizes she does not have personal autonomy. Suddenly, her world is flipped upside down, and her situation becomes dangerous. This is when Iris develops a will to live independently of her boyfriend, for the first time.
Companion falls under many genres; sci-fi, thriller, horror, romance, drama, and comedy; but at its heart, it is a feminist film with a modern take on the objectivity of women in society. The premise of Companion is comparable to a few films with similar concepts surrounding the ethics of Artificial Intelligence; such as Ex Machina (2014), and Her (2013). The most comparable recent film is Subservience (2024) which has a similar concept of a domestic robot, but Subservience is a much worse iteration of this concept.
In Subservience (2024), an AI android built for domestic duties suddenly becomes self-aware. She decides she wants everything the family has, including the affection of her owner. This film’s approach to feminist horror is much weaker than Companion’s. What makes Companion work is the simplicity of Iris’ needs, instead of seeking a partner or revenge, Iris seeks survival.
Despite its weighty futuristic concept, Companion manages to be a perfect popcorn flick. The entire movie is a blast to watch, with humor and suspense in every scene. It is not a scary movie, but the suspense will have you on the edge of your seat. The gore and violence are strong but could have been dialed up for comedic effect.
Social commentary is baked into the dialogue throughout the film. The dialogue is overt, leaving no room for subtext. It is thanks to the dialogue and the actor’s portrayal of the characters that social commentary becomes the source of comedy in the film.
The standout acting performance was hands down Sophie Thatcher, who plays Iris. Her performance becomes increasingly rich as the film goes along, and her character becomes increasingly unhinged. When her programming is tampered with, Thatcher’s performance impressively emulates these changes. Her physicality embodies alterations.
Companion has a strong underlying message of personal autonomy for all people, especially women. Not all men are going to like this movie because of how well the film calls out misogyny and abuse. I hope this film helps people recognize this behavior in their personal lives and take a stand against it.
Companion takes place in the future, but this is not the focus of the story. The film takes place in such a secluded location that futuristic technology is invisible, aside from Josh’s self-driving car. We only see a small part of this futuristic world, and this is because the story is not about the impressiveness of futuristic technology. Rather, it’s about one particular piece of futuristic tech, a girl named Iris. Because the Sci-Fi element is dialed down, the focus is on Iris, who represents the impacts of misogyny in the modern era.
With the advancement of artificial intelligence, we are getting closer to creating lifelike robots, and movies like Companion are becoming more realistic. Iris represents the advancement of technology we see today: AI voice replication, self-driving cars, and talking computer assistants such as Siri and Alexa. The name Iris is a clever anagram: It is Siri spelled backward.
Companion is a witty, fun, thought-provoking horror/sci-fi film with a great cast. If a not-so-scary horror comedy that is still smart interests you, see Companion before it leaves theaters. Score: 85%