Companion opens in theaters Friday, January 31.
Trailers and posters proclaim that Companion hails “from the creators of Barbarian,” but that’s misleading: Though it shares some of the same producers, Companion is actually the brainchild of first-time writer/director Drew Hancock. It’s fairer to say the two films are linked in spirit: Like Barbarian’s Zach Cregger, Hancock has a background in TV comedy, and it serves him well in a feature debut whose funny moments seamlessly mingle with the effectively unsettling and violent turns of a couples’ retreat gone lethally awry. As he guides a winning pair of lead performances from Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid, Hancock joins Cregger, Jordan Peele, and Danny McBride in proving that drawing a laugh and prompting a scream are complementary skills.
The marketing for Companion has been more candid about what’s going on with Iris, the head-over-heels lovebird played by Thatcher. (If you want to go in fresh, skip to the next paragraph. Otherwise, click the box to the right.) Tap to Reveal
Iris sees Josh and their romance through rose-colored glasses, but it’s immediately clear something isn’t quite right with her recollection of their heightened meet-cute. The opening scenes of Companion evoke recent, twisty thrillers like Don’t Worry Darling and Blink Twice, with the implicit and ominous feeling of unseen manipulation at work. But Companion is ultimately the more satisfying film.
We know from Iris’ opening narration that her relationship with Josh very much isn’t built to last, and Hancock creates an electric sense of anticipation as we wait to discover Josh’s intentions. Companion is not the first film to flip Quaid’s innate charm and likability on its head, but it does so in its own highly compelling way. As he did in 2022’s Scream, Quaid once more proves how ready, willing, and skilled he is at playing a guy masking a disturbed psyche with a happy, upbeat face. He’s fully committed to Companion’s warped sense of humor, too, scoring one of the movie’s biggest laughs by showing off Josh’s orgasm face.
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