PopHorror Let's Get Scared
The modern world has a constant and vigilant fear of the potential dangers of artificial intelligence as it grows stronger. This has been showing up more and more in the horror world, in the forms of movies like Companion.
Let’s take a look at this movie and see how it showcases those fears.
Companion is a horror/sci-fi/romance mashup that’s written and directed by Drew Hancock (My Dead Ex TV Series 2018). It stars Sophie Thatcher (Heretic 2024) and Jack Quaid (Scream 2022) as lovers that go up to their friend’s cabin for a vacation weekend. But the plans for the trip aren’t as simple as bonding and partying, and not everybody is quite as human as they seem. The acting is a huge positive for this film, as both Thatcher and Quaid have to run through a wide range of emotions as the story winds through twists and turns. They do so with believability and tremendous chemistry.
Though the latest Companion trailer gives away a few of those twists (which is an industry wide spoiler issue), the script is written to make the audience say “okay, what can they do next?” Another strength of the writing and direction is how smart their main characters are. As they engage in an intriguing episode of cat-and-mouse, each character uses their brains to gain the upper hand without creating too many leaps in logic for a story of this type. The balance of power shifts multiple times, which character using their surroundings to gain the advantage. The background characters and flashbacks also really add a layer of comedy and plot devices as well.
The location makes a great balance in feeling both isolated and open at the same time, and the use of AI wasn’t done in a way that felt braggadocios or overexposed. It has hints of the Child’s Play remake (read our review here) and M3gan but takes its mission a bit more seriously.
The music is a nice throwback to poppy love songs of a bygone era. The tension really builds as the story progresses, and the world that’s been crafted in Companion lends itself to future franchise treatment.
Companion is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime and Fandango.
