Author/director Drew Hancock’s Companion is a difficult movie to assessment sans spoilers (which, to be clear, I totally intend to try right here). It’s a extra thrilling watch when you have no consciousness of what’s coming on the finish of the primary act, able to upend all the pieces you assume you realize about what’s occurring – however extra considerably, these occasions/revelations then flip the story in an entire new path and begin to unveil bigger themes and beget much more twists… and I can’t ethically discover any it since you need to have the identical cinematic expertise that I did.
Companion
Launch Date: January 31, 2025
Directed By: Drew Hancock
Written By: Drew Hancock
Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, and Rupert Pal
Ranking: R for robust violence, sexual content material, and language all through
Runtime: 97 minutes
These playing cards on the desk, I suppose this assessment turns into a extra enhanced belief train than your regular critique. I’m going to chorus from explaining an excessive amount of concerning the film or revealing too many particulars, however I’ll laud it for the craftsmanship of the story and extremely advocate seeing it at your first obtainable alternative. The guts is the adroit and intelligent script that continually retains you guessing and stoked to see what’s across the nook, however Hancock additionally demonstrates an incredible ear for tone, the movie deftly oscillating between horror and comedy, and the solid is each well-rounded and excellent.
Companion stars Sophie Thatcher as Iris, a younger girl who’s head-over-heels for her boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid). Though Iris doesn’t assume that Josh’s pal’s like her – together with the surly Kat (Megan Suri), the bubbly Eli (Harvey Guillén), and his chipper boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage) – all of them get collectively on the lovely lake home owned by Kat’s Russian billionaire boyfriend Sergey (Rupert Pal) for a weekend of relaxation and leisure.
As a result of it is a horror movie, nevertheless, you realize that the remaining and leisure doesn’t find yourself coming. One second of utmost rigidity results in some transient violence that yields copious quantities of blood. The choice of tips on how to react to this case is difficult by each secrets and techniques and hidden motives possessed by the members of the pal group, creating to a tangled internet that takes the film down a splendidly complicated path.
Companion is a style gumbo that surprises with each critical thrills and large laughs.
Companion is a movie made with darkish sensibilities, nevertheless it’s constructed to be enjoyable – delighting in toying with the viewers’s expectations and unfurling its ever extra ominous plotting with the solar shining and a palette of pastels. You possibly can’t assist however smile broadly because the film takes you without warning with the brand new layers which might be pulled again, and there’s a plethora of witty dialogue and sight gags, however what’s important is that it doesn’t undercut its drama and thrills with its comedy. Conversely, the humor opens the door to emotionally put money into the protagonists and antagonists, which has the impact of boosting the stakes. When it will get to the heavier and scarier materials, you care.
As a style train, the movie isn’t nightmare-inducing horror, nevertheless it efficiently earns its categorization by way of well-orchestrated rigidity and its robust character improvement. Iris’ worry is relatable from the outset, as I think about most of us can relate to being an outsider introduced in to work together with a brand new pal group, and as issues spin additional and additional uncontrolled, her peril turns into our personal. Circumstances worsen and worse as she tries to seek out her means out of the escalating mess, and in doing so, it efficiently hits your worry buttons.
Sophie Thatcher additional establishes herself as an incredible expertise main the implausible solid of Companion.
Boosting each facet of the hassle is the excellence of Sophie Thatcher, who continues to impress as one of the thrilling abilities of her era. Her style bona fides are already well-established, from her terrific work on the sequence Yellowjackets to her nice work in options like The Boogeyman and Heretic, however this position comes geared up with particular challenges, and she or he is phenomenal. With out saying an excessive amount of (I’m nonetheless making an attempt to not give the sport away right here), the character undergoes a major transformation over the course of the story as she makes some startling discoveries, and it’s wowing to witness Thatcher specific that evolution. In case you’re not already a fan of hers going into Companion, you’ll actually go away the movie as one.
Thatcher is indisputably the film’s biggest asset, however she isn’t wholly carrying the work on her shoulders, as she is supported by a terrific ensemble. Increasing on his vibe from The Boys and Scream, Jack Quaid additional proves himself notably adept at discovering an ideal center floor between goofiness and edginess that makes us love his display screen presence however specific touches of concern about his character’s bigger motivations.
The latter is magnified by the refined sinister vibe of Megan Suri’s Kat, who presents a mysterious antagonistic perspective towards Iris from the soar, and Harvey Guillén delivers his particular model of sweetness that additionally finally will get paired with a dollop of darkness. I’d additionally love to supply important kudos to the efficiency by Lukas Gage… however issues would get a contact dangerous from a spoiler-phobic perspective, so I’ll merely say that he brilliantly handles among the story’s greatest surprises with a flip that blossoms in huge and surprising methods.
I’ve accomplished my greatest right here to each critique and advocate Companion with out spilling any of its secrets and techniques – however even when you have been uncovered to among the movie’s plot developments from advertising supplies, it’s best to know that this isn’t a single-twist journey and that there are nonetheless loads of surprises packed inside. It’s one other thrilling addition to the implausible on-going renaissance for unique horror films, and a cinematic deal with for the early weeks of 2025.