Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid have both become household names amid their bang-up streaming series (Yellowjackets and The Boys) respectively, but do not sleep on their film choices. Sophie has been spooking it up with Heretic and Boogeyman, and Quaid will gain superpowers in the upcoming Novocaine after pausing his good-guy vibes in 2022’s Scream.
Well, don’t expect the good-guy vibes in Companion, although the New Line Cinema movie has mastered the fine art of not giving everything away before release. Let’s talk about what has emerged about this psychological thriller.
Plot
Is Companion a twisted tale of obsession, a horror movie with a sci-fi backbone, or both? Thatcher told Dazed that the film is “more of a sci-fi thriller,” and “It’s gory, as you can tell from the trailer, but it’s not horror in the way Heretic is.” As Hollywood Reporter further details, writer and director Drew Hancock’s “sci-fi-tinged horror script” caught the producing eye of Barbarian director Zach Cregger and other minds behind that cult horror flick.
Before we chatter about more hints (and vague official description of “a billionaire’s death sets off a chain of events for Iris and her friends during a weekend trip to his lakeside estate”), the teaser trailer needs watching.
The trailer pulls the rug out from under the audience multiple times with “romantic” music yielding a one-plate-only dinner, leading to a glimpse of a handcuff on Iris (Thatcher). This gives way to footage of Josh (Quaid) shooting Iris elsewhere and later forcing her to hold her hand over an open flame, which lights up her arm as horrified tears form in Iris’ eyes.
The overall assumption is that she must be an android, but there are shades of an even more unpredictable situation in an exclusive preview posted by Letterboxed on Instagram. In that clip, Iris tells Josh that he will stop controlling her. He apparently expresses disbelief at her breaking up with him, and she utters a stilted, “It’s not you, it’s me.”
To add another dimension, that trailer and clips do not hint at humor, but Thatcher told Inverse that this is a “really funny” movie:
“It’s a really layered movie. It was fun for me. I’ve never been able to act in such a crazy role. It was very different from anything I’ve done before. It’s really funny and I love my co-stars. It’s very stylized too. The soundtrack’s really great. I don’t want to spoil anything plot-wise, but there are a lot of twists that you do not expect at all. So I think audiences will be engaged and I know they’ll be entertained.”
The more that’s revealed about this movie, the less seems certain.
Cast
Jack Quaid is Josh, and Sophie Thatcher portrays Iris. She beat out over 300 other contenders, according to Hancock speaking with CinemaBlend. He revealed, “[I]t was a difficult tight rope to walk because you first half of the movie needs to play like the withering violet; you have to believe her as like this meek character. In the second half, she has to play essentially an action star and you have to believe her that she could be strong and empowered.” Once Sophie logged onto Zoom for a chemistry read with Hancock and producers, “[I]t was like instantaneous… It was cliché. She said two words and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ like just imagining like, ‘This is not gonna work out, she’s perfect for this. It’s never gonna happen.’ And thank God it did.”
Supporting Companion players include Lukas Gage (as Patrick), Harvey Guillén (as Eli), Megan Suri (as Kat), and Rupert Friend (as Sergey).
Release Date
This pre-Valentine’s gift will arrive in theaters on Jan. 31, 2025.
Trailer
Since a full trailer hasn’t surfaced yet and the teaser trailer appears above, please enjoy Jack Quaid absolutely murdering a pizza in the Scream franchise.
