From Jeremy Kibler

Don’t watch the second trailer. Don’t even look at the poster. Marketing helps with getting butts in seats, but it can also ruin the surprises in store. Fortunately, writer-director Drew Hancock’s feature debut Companion doesn’t hang everything on its first major reveal, but you may be envious of those who get to go into this sharply executed romantic comedy-turned-sci-fi horror thriller completely blind. 

After meeting cute near an orange display in a grocery store, Josh (Jack Quaid) and Iris (Sophie Thatcher) are madly in love and ready to put their relationship to the test. They go on a weekend getaway with Josh’s friends in a vacation house owned by Sergey (Rupert Friend), the married Russian sugar-daddy boyfriend to Josh’s bitchy friend Kat (Megan Suri). Iris is a little nervous at first, but Josh tells her to “just smile and act happy.” There’s tension and then things get really violent. 

The offbeat tone throughout Companion is set from the start, as Iris spoils the end of her and Josh’s love story in voice-over narration. Boy meets girl in the supermarket, boy invites girl to a cabin with friends, boy tries to control girl, and girl turns out to…let’s stop right there. What can be said is that the film has something to say about autonomy and toxic relationships with a deliciously dark bent. Companion is reminiscent of several other movies—and listing off any of them would be a betrayal to the viewer in their own discovery—but it is its own smart, stylish, funny, disturbing, wildly unpredictable package. 

Finding her niche in the horror genre with a killer emotive face and calming voice, Sophie Thatcher (Heretic) is superb as Iris, navigating every nuance and layer of a woman who finally takes control of herself. One can’t help but root for Iris to finally grow into her power and pit her intelligence against the fragile male ego. Between this and Scream (2022), Jack Quaid is perfect at pivoting between playing Josh as an amiable boyfriend and the absolute worst. Rounding out the rest of the cast, Megan Suri mainly gets to be prickly as Kat, but Harvey Guillén and Lukas Gage are both hilarious and adorable, bringing surprising amounts of heart and pathos to their relationship as Eli and Patrick. 

A tone-bending genre treat with ideas on its mind, Companion keeps surprising even after its corker of a twist (and there’s even a twist on an electric wine opener). Writer-director Drew Hancock’s script is deviously clever and so tightly plotted that it fills in every gap we assume the film might make. Besides a needless wraparound voice-over, this is a confidently made film in every department. 

Costume designer Vanessa Porter does splendid work, particularly with Iris’ retro ‘60s-style wardrobe, and production designer Scott Kuzio makes subtly modern but not-too-futuristic touches with the sleek “cabin” and the surrounding forest. Inviting us with a false sense of security, forgotten ‘80s jam “Boy” by Book of Love makes for an infectious dance party when Iris initially blends with Josh’s friend group. There are also two hilarious music choices, one by the Goo Goo Dolls and the other being Paul Russell’s “Lil Boo Thang” in a recurring meet-cute montage. 

There are only so many stories to tell, and Companion manages to always zig when you expect it to zag. It’s one of the more original date movies that could make things awkward or teach your date how to act. 

Rating: 4.5/5

Companion is currently playing in theaters.

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