Companion: A fun, Slick Sci-Fi Horror With a Black Mirror Edge

Companion stands out in the bleak cinematic landscape of the first few months of the year. 

This sci-fi horror-thriller offers a unique take on AI companionship, blending classic horror tropes with dark humour and the ever-expanding female rage genre—I’m thinking Promising Young Woman and Blink Twice here.

If you enjoyed Ex Machina, Companion plays in a similar arena, but with a distinct awareness: an almost transactional acknowledgment between humans and AI. Unlike Her, where the AI is openly known, or Blade Runner, which leans into existentialism, here we have a protagonist who doesn’t even realise she’s a robot—until she does.

The story follows Josh (Jack Quaid) and his girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) on a getaway with their friends ( Megan Suri, Harvey Guillen, Lucas Gage ) at a secluded house owned by a wealthy Russian businessman, played by Ruper Friend. 

Quaid and Thatcher play really well off each other and they both deliver great performances. 

Sophie Thatcher continues to solidify herself as a genre favourite, following her performances in Yellowjackets, The Boogeyman, and The Heretic. She brings a quiet intensity to Iris, making her transformation from programmed companion to self-aware force of nature feel gripping.

Jack Quaid, on the other hand, plays Josh with that nice-guy-next-door-who’s-actually-kind-of-terrible energy, something that works almost too well. He seems to be gearing up for an incredible year, with the new season of The Boys and Novocaine, another comedy-action film, on the horizon. His arc in Companion takes an unexpected turn, and the revelation of his true character is one of the few twists that genuinely surprised me, considering the film’s overall predictability.

In the opening scene, Thatcher is walking through a supermarket, where she has her meet-cute with Josh. Her voiceover plays: “There have been two moments in my life when I was happiest. The first was the day I met Josh. The second, the day I killed him.” This sets up the tone for what we should expect, but in doing so, it does remove a certain element of surprise and suspense for what we are about to watch. The film’s alignment with the female rage narrative also establishes certain expectations, one being that the vengeful female protagonist will always end up victorious over the people that wronged her. 

Iris remains unaware of her true nature until about 20 minutes in, right at the turn of the first act. When she discovers she’s a robot, with agency of her own, the film briefly dips into a Blade Runner-esque dilemma of consciousness and free will. However, the second half shifts into full horror mode, with fight-for-your-life sequences and gory set pieces. Some of them are big clichés, and there are some plot holes here and there, and because of the premise, we lack any sense of urgency and stake for Iris.

Despite these plot gimmicks that the script falls prey to, the story is quite original. For a directorial debut, Drew Hancock does an impressive job with this low budget flick. (10 Million) The setting, a remote, almost sterile environment, adds to the sense of isolation and inevitability. While the film doesn’t introduce any groundbreaking concepts in the AI-horror genre, it does inject enough originality to make it a fun, engaging ride. 

There are some elements that reminded me of Black Mirror, famously known for blending a near-future technology with dark social commentary. The tech in this movie is barely shown. We know Josh can control Iris via his phone, adjusting her parameters and intelligence as he pleases. She is, essentially, a commodity. He doesn’t have feelings for her; she merely fills a need, a need for companionship in a world in which, from the few hints we get, loneliness is rampant and the fear of AI replaceability is spreading. And if this is not Black Mirror-esque, I don’t know what is. We already live in a world where loneliness is a major problem. We are in the digital era, where most of us are always connected to a screen, where we have bots to talk to rather than real people, where everything we need is mostly one click away, so if human isolation could be solved with the right price tag, wouldn’t society take that route?

Companion doesn’t offer deep philosophical debates on AI consciousness in itself, but it doesn’t have to. It’s a slick, entertaining film that blends sci-fi, horror, and feminist rage into a compelling narrative. It has its plot holes, sure, and it doesn’t push the genre forward in groundbreaking ways, but it knows exactly what it’s doing. And sometimes, that’s enough. It still sets itself apart and I have a feeling it might become a hidden gem that I might enjoy rewatching again. 

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