First time writer/director Drew Hancock comes right out of the gate with a certified all-time banger with the twisty, razor sharp, ferociously funny, and just plain damned entertaining Companion. Do yourself a favor and avoid all the trailers and go in as cold and as fresh and possible. The less you know, the better off you are as the way Hancock slowly parcels out his story beats is one of the many joys of the film.
I’ll paint the set-up in the broadest of strokes. Josh (Jack Quaid) brings his girlfriend Iris (Sophie Thatcher) to a secluded house in the woods for a weekend getaway with some friends. She’s afraid they won’t like her. He assures her everything will be fine. Iris soon proves to be a perfect houseguest and a perfect girlfriend. Maybe too perfect.
I’ll stop right there. The way Hancock pulls the strings is masterful not only in terms of story structure, but also in the way he doles out the various plot twists and character arcs. The writing is so good that you may overlook some of his directorial flairs too. One thing is for sure, he is capable of delivering some genuine shocks. We’ve seen a lot of “Cabin in the Woods” scenarios in horror films before, but nothing quite like this.
The acting is aces all around. Thatcher has been slowly but steadily become a horror It Girl to watch, and she solidifies her standing with a knockout performance. You truly feel for Iris every step of the way as she displays a rollercoaster of emotions and then some. Needless to say, when she finally turns the tables on her tormentors, it’s standing ovation time. Quaid is equally excellent as her boyfriend who starts out as bland and vanilla as you can get. However, it seems like every time he opens his mouth, he reveals himself to be more and more of an unlikeable douche. It’s quite a marriage of clever scripting and intuitive performance as his gradual departure from decency is one of the best things about the movie. What We Do in the Shadows’ Harvey Guillen rounds out the cast as a lovable gregarious houseguest who may have a secret or two of his own.
In short, Companion is a modern classic.
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