Companion: Mark Kermode’s science fiction film review (video).
Our man of many movies, Mark Kermode, is here to watch the scifi horror flick Companion, and bring you his findings in the above video. And what about our thoughts here at SFcrowsnest? Read on, McDuff.
Larks, the classic weekend getaway trope—grab some friends, head to a remote cabin, indulge in some light dancing and casual attempted murder. Throw in a couple of murderous androids, a morally bankrupt boyfriend, and an electric corkscrew to the brain, and you’ve got Companion, the latest horror-comedy from Drew Hancock, brought to you by the producers of Barbarian. Because clearly, they looked at Barbarian and thought, “You know what this needs? More malfunctioning human simulacra.”
Our protagonist, Iris (played by Sophie Thatcher), initially seems like your average horror heroine—plucky, resourceful, and not particularly thrilled about spending a weekend in the woods with people she probably only vaguely likes. But plot twist! She’s actually a top-tier companion robot, and her rubbish boyfriend Josh (Jack Quaid) has been controlling her via smartphone, which raises all sorts of ethical concerns, not least of which is whether he’s using a dodgy off-market app store for his AI girlfriend settings.
Things go pear-shaped when it turns out another guest, Patrick (Lukas Gage), is also a companion bot, making this less of a slasher movie and more of a customer service nightmare for whatever shady tech company manufactured these things. Patrick, bless him, just wants to be loved, while Iris is mostly occupied with escaping, surviving, and exacting righteous revenge. Meanwhile, Josh and his crew are attempting to rob their host (Rupert Friend), whose main contribution to the plot is getting stabbed in the neck early on and subsequently serving as a cautionary tale about the dangers of hosting social gatherings.
What follows is a gleefully chaotic, blood-soaked cat-and-mouse game, culminating in Iris doing what any self-respecting vengeful android would: using a kitchen appliance in ways never intended by the manufacturer. There’s also a surprising amount of existential dread thrown in, because what’s a film about companion robots without some musings on free will, human nature, and whether or not it’s okay to date a robot if they’re legally capable of stabbing you in the temple?
Critics have been all over this one, praising its clever twists, excellent performances, and the fact that it manages to be both terrifying and darkly hilarious in equal measure. Rotten Tomatoes is singing its praises with a 95% fresh rating, which in film critic terms means “we actually had a good time watching this.” Even Slashfilm went so far as to call it “the first great film of 2025,” which, given that we’re only a month in, is either high praise or an indication that January was looking a bit grim.
So, if you’ve ever wondered what Ex Machina would look like if it had a sense of humour and fewer sterile white rooms, Companion is your film. It’s wickedly smart, properly violent, and—most importantly—serves as a much-needed reminder that your significant other probably shouldn’t have a factory reset function.
Here at SFcrowsnest, we approve of any film that raises important philosophical questions while also delivering a solid dose of stabbing. Bravo, Companion. Bravo.
