A robot companion takes action to prevent being shut down when she learns
she's part of a nefarious plot.
Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Drew Hancock
Starring: Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend
There's a growing sub-genre of horror movies based around the setup of
a shy and nervous young woman embarking on a getaway with a bunch of
people whose company makes her feel like an outsider. As circumstances
spiral violently out of control, the young woman in question finds
herself in the role of a slasher movie final girl. What differentiates
these movies - which includes the likes of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Sissy and Birdeater - from your typical spam-in-a-cabin backwoods slashers is that
the threat doesn't come from some supernatural force or rapey rednecks
but rather from within the friend group itself, which is usually
comprised of shallow, bitchy millennials or zoomers.
Writer/director Drew Hancock's debut Companion is the latest entry in this sub-genre, but this one has a
significant variation: the nervous young woman here isn't actually a
young woman at all but a robot. Or to put it more bluntly, a
fuckbot.
Thing is, Iris (Sophie Thatcher) doesn't realise she's little
more than a sophisticated blow-up doll. As far as she's concerned she's
a perfectly normal human girl in love with her handsome boyfriend Josh
(Jack Quaid), on whom she dotes. Of course, Iris has simply been
programmed to devote herself to Josh and her memory of their "meet cute"
in a supermarket is nothing more than an implant, like Deckard's vague
recollection of a unicorn in Blade Runner.
When Josh brings Iris for a weekend getaway in a remote luxurious cabin
owned by his friend Kat's (Megan Suri) Russian mobster boyfriend
Sergey (Rupert Friend), Iris is initially nervous about the idea
of spending time with Josh's friend group, which also includes gay
lovers Eli (Harvey Guillén) and Patrick (Lukas Gage), but
after a night of drinking and dancing she warms to the idea. What Iris
doesn't know is that she's being set up to play a key role in a
dastardly plan, one which will see her doing whatever it takes to
prevent Josh from shutting her down.
Previous recent movies about rogue AI
girlfriends/nannies/secretaries/toys etc have posited the robots as the
antagonists. Companion deviates from this trend by making Iris simultaneously the final
girl and the slasher: she's both Sarah Connors and the Terminator.
Hancock pulls off the trick of convincing us to root for a machine over
our fellow humans because the latter are such a despicable bunch we
can't help but salivate at the thought of them getting their just
desserts at the fake flesh covered hands of Iris.
But don't worry, this isn't a piece of pro-AI propaganda. The film
displays a commendable contempt for the sort of losers who use AI as a
shortcut rather than putting in the work. Josh is portrayed as a
whinging incel who believes the world owes him a favour, and it's all
too clear why he had to resort to renting a mechanical girlfriend.
Another key distinction here is that Iris's bloody rampage isn't
instigated by any failing software on her part but rather having been
hacked by Josh as a way to get around her anti-violence protocols. It's
a reminder that AI is ultimately a product of humanity, and we'll be
responsible for our own downfall if we continue down this dangerous
path.
Companion has more to say about our contentious relationship with AI than
most serious-minded sci-fi thrillers, but it does so in a movie that is
rapidly paced and filled with humour. There are some novel ideas, like
how Iris's intelligence can be controlled by a slider on a phone app
(Josh has it initially set to a mere 40% and fears what Iris might be
capable of if she whacks it up to 100%) that play a role in ramping up
the tension while satirising how the key appeal of AI to many men is to
have a romantic companion who doesn't answer back. The film is produced
by Zach Cregger, and it blends horror and comedy to
thrilling effect in similar fashion to his own acclaimed debut Barbarian. Both movies are rare genre thrillers that keep the audience guessing
as to what's about to happen next at any given moment. Even the more
predictable twists here lead the story in new and unexpected
directions.
Rising star Thatcher continues to be one of the most watchable young
actors in horror today, and her performance as a machine that doesn't
want to accept the truth of her experience is never anything but
convincing. There's something deliciously ironic in how Iris feels most
alive when she's learned the truth about herself and witnessed humanity
at its worst.
There are a few missteps, chief among them the baffling decision to
reveal the film's ending in the opening scene. The movie is a bit too in
love with one of its jokes, which it repeats more than once, momentarily
taking us out of the action for the sake of a redundant visual gag. By
the climax some of the rules the film has established around what Iris
can and can't do seem to go out the window. But such minor gripes
aside, Companion is a highly entertaining and original take on the robot goes
rogue trope.
Companion is in UK/ROI cinemas
from January 31st.
