Companion
Six characters convene at a cabin in the woods in Drew Hancock’s corkscrew, unexpected genre-hopping ride.
Supporting programme: Sophie Thatcher
Image courtesy of Warner Bros.
In horror terms, the set-up could hardly be more pedestrian. A group of people meet up at “a little rustic cabin in the woods.” Actually, it’s a modern, luxuriously appointed property nestled “on the edge of civilisation.” At dinner, we meet the three couples, all very modern. The host, Sergey (Rupert Friend), is a creepy Russian oligarch who swigs vodka for breakfast, is married, but has brought his mistress Kat (Megan Suri) along as a sort of sexual accessory. Then there’s Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage), male lovers still very much smitten with each other. And there’s Iris (Sophie Thatcher), our narrator, who tells us from the start that she has killed the love of her life, the charming and charismatic Josh (Jack Quaid).
So, we already know that the ensuing events are a flashback, as recalled by Iris, who has a “meet cute” moment with Josh at the fruit section of a supermarket. The place and time are unspecified, but we know it’s somewhere in the future and the location a gorgeous tract of woodland. That night we already see that something is off. In their bedroom upstairs, Josh climaxes noisily on top of Iris, then rolls over immediately afterwards with his back to her. Being played by Jack Quaid, the son of Meg Ryan, Josh’s one-note vocal blast of pleasure is not something to be admired. No cuddles, no thank yous… he just treats Iris like an object, which is the point.
The film’s poster and strapline have already alerted us to the fact that Iris is not your common or garden companion. The pleasures of Drew Hancock’s debut feature (as writer and director) are best left to be discovered as the film unfolds. While it is decisively entrenched in the tropes of genre – particularly that of jet-black horror comedy – the means by which it pulls us in as an audience is both smart and surprising. We are already invested in Iris because she’s in control of the narrative and is played with sweetness and allure by the 23-year-old scream queen Sophie Thatcher (The Boogeyman, Heretic). The other characters are more contrived but serve their purpose well enough. Rupert Friend’s oleaginous oligarch could hardly be more one-dimensional, but the actor is having fun exercising his thespian chops. The twists and revelations are slickly calibrated, and although essentially set in a sci-fi universe, the film has important points to make about today’s society, but without overly labouring the message.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend, Jaboukie Young-White, Matthew J. McCarthy, Marc Menchaca, Woody Fu.
Dir Drew Hancock, Pro Zach Cregger, Roy Lee, Raphael Margules and J.D. Lifshitz, Screenplay Drew Hancock, Ph Eli Born, Pro Des Scott Kuzio, Ed Brett W. Bachman and Josh Ethier, Music Hrishikesh Hirway, Costumes Vanessa Porter, Sound Dan Kenyon, Ando Johnson and Erick Ocampo, Dialect coach Helen Jane Simmons.
New Line Cinema/BoulderLight Pictures/Vertigo Entertainment/Subconscious/Domain Entertainment-Warner Bros.
96 mins. USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 31 January 2025. Cert. 15.
