horror films are truly enjoying a Renaissance they're even getting nominated for major Awards what a time to be a horror fan and even us casuals are getting pulled back in to the genre and excitingly it looks like that Renaissance is going to continue into 2025 starting with companion this film was not on my radar but it has been on the radar of some who always cover the horror uh genre it I think it premiered like some kind of Festival a couple of months ago and started to get a little bit of heat but I only
heard about it a few weeks ago when the trailer first came out and I was like this looks amazing so I wrote Warner Brothers and said I would like to see this so I got to see a screening and uh I'm I'm delighted at how good it is now Drew Hancock a relative unknown is making his film debut as a writer director and a lot of attention has been given to Zack creger hot off Barbarian who here is a a producer that's a barbarian you know name checked on the poster but the name you should
really be paying attention to because we wear our business hats here is Mr Roy Lee who is had a long career in Hollywood he started out adapting Asian content for Hollywood bringing big hits over in Asia to Hollywood and a lot of them were then big hits here and he's he's you know also been a producer on some other things very some very big things things but what he really how he really made himself a mega producer was the it franchise big deal very big deal and he has quite the eye for horror he produced
Barbarian he's producing Ker's follow-up weapons and just last year he produced late night with the devil and the exceptional strange darling great movies and he's also behind companion learn to read the credits especially if you want to work in the biz you got to know who who's making what uh and you know see the trends uh because everybody has their their you know the space that they work in primarily uh and so if you're into you want to produce a horror movie or any type of movie pay attention to the credits of the type of
movie that you want to make all right so I would I would describe companion as Megan meets the girlfriend experience but it's not it's not uh Saucy we'll talk about that at the end when I discuss the rating um and also scream what a combo with some very nice nods to Terminator sprinkled on top I can't say what they are because that would spoil them but I thought they were absolutely brilliant ah I was like oh Drew Hancock you have a future well we'll see how this does box office wise but creatively he's on fire
all right so uh let's be honest if anyone was going to build a female robot you know some of the Terminator movies or and shows have been like here's a female Terminator but in real life life a female Ser a female robot would be used to be well a companion right uh in fact we don't even have to to you know have a hypothetical because this very year 2025 is already like so bizarre but an impressive prototype of a companion was uh introduced at CES this year that moves around on a wait for it on
a Roomba I can't believe it here comes your Here Comes Your robot girlfriend on a Roomba you know it's it's oh boy all right so it's like how do we process this go see companion so companion takes place in the very near future but to make no mistake it's the future but it's close where you don't drive your own car and the loneliness epidemic has been cured by one simple purchase or rental if you uh don't have the money and companion does a brilliant job exploring the idealistic version of this experience or Arrangement but also
the more realist IC version I thought that was very interesting I I could definitely maybe uh see a sequel for this I thought it was very very good the movie is extremely well thought out I mean Drew Hancock has figured out all the angles of this scenario and also a very inventive way to use use your a companion robot I was like amazing but wait if you go in already knowing that she's a companion robot as the trailer revealed wasn't me it was the trailer is the movie already ruined ruined it is not I am
pleased to announce that's revealed at the end of the First Act you're like oh man you ruined the First Act Grace but knowing that going in well first of all they had to make sure you saw the movie if they didn't reveal that in the trailer this thing would tank so you got to I mean you got to sell it too you got to sell it you got to sell it but I think that makes you more of an active participant in the First Act you pick up on things you maybe otherwise wouldn't uh and
I think you know otherwise for the first like 30 the movie it just seems like your standard romcom and you know who wants to sit through that you got to have the promise of a very different movie around the corner I mean I like a good romcom too uh but you know this is in my opinion much better there are a ton of twists and turns throughout the movie it's just a Cascade of them just twist and turn and twist and turn and twist and turn now to be fair some of them I saw coming
pretty easily cuz I'll watch a lot of movies I know the genre so I was like oh oh I see what's coming and it was delightful when it happened I was like oh now some of them I had just a feeling about I was like something's weird there and I was right but then some of them delightfully surprised me so I'll be Curious by the way you know no spoilers if you've managed to see the movie uh which ones you guess um and which ones surprise you the movie is hilarious and fun but I would
also say very very smart extremely smart which makes it a real treat to watch you know you're like wow you really thought this out Drew hand hanock you know like it's not so so many movies are like a good first act and a good setup a good pitch and then they don't know how to end their movie H this movie knows how to end it very very well written and I think it should have broad appeal I hope so as it explores the Dynamics of relationships you know the studio is considering releasing it for Valentine's
Day and I loved the movie so much I called a friend of mine when I got out of the screening up I didn't ruin it for them and they were like too bad it didn't come out for Valentine's Day and I was like I think it would ruin a lot of relationships I don't know if it should come out you can rent it probably for Valentine's Day right oh that's pretty clever actually that's like like like they did with Beetlejuice it was in theaters a little bit early hit digital just in time for Halloween oh
also Warner Brothers very clever get out ahead of the holiday and you know everybody's already putting their Valentine's Day stuff out by January 31st my Valentine's Day stuff will be out all right so I think it explores the Dynamics of relationships some of you might be like does this make guys look bad well a little but I mean the original scream kind of did and nobody has a problem with that I mean it's just so well done I mean you just can't get upset with it and I didn't I don't think anybody should be offended
by it I mean it was great I really really liked it uh hoping to get good word of mouth you can see that Warner Brothers is lifting the review embargo for this movie ridiculously early it comes out next Friday uh January 31st in IMAX now I can't believe I'm saying this but don't go see this in IMAX because would you see scream in IMAX I think a premium screen especially an iMac screen would be distracting you know I mean it's a very well-shot beautiful you know film it has great visuals but it's just it doesn't
require that size screen I don't know why they're putting in IMAX maybe to give it a little cache I can understand why they would do that like presents this weekend is opening just in Dolby um this could be okay in Dolby but you could see this at any size screen it's screen you might be like a phone screen well here's the thing I don't want anyone to spoil it for you yeah you could watch it on any size screen you could you could watch it on a phone and you would be like fantastic but I
think by then with the way things are today I mean you're not if unless you like don't go on social media at all which I find hard to believe even just talking to somebody someone's going to blurt out something in this movie because it's clever it's fun it's very very well thought out and people are going to want to talk about how clever it is and you're going to be like oh NOS I'm now I been the experience has been ruined so that's one of the main reasons I would recommend that you go check it
out in the theater besides the fact that it's fun to go to a movie theater you know especially since they're stepping up their game these days and if you have amca lists like I do or some kind of subscription program doesn't cost you anything extra to go to this movie and it's a really good movie so get yourself a popcorn and a fizzy soda and have fun all right so because I don't want to spoil the movie for you I can't talk anymore about like the plot and stuff like that but I can talk about
the cast and what a cast Sophie Thatcher now those of us who watch Yellow Jackets know two things one season two sucked I mean it started out okay but they didn't know how to end that story or I they haven't ended it yet but oh boy are they lost in the woods with the writing and then two that the cast is amazing Christina Richie so good on that show it's a shame that the writing has gotten so bad considering how good the cast is Ella Pernell really you know her spot blew up from this show
Jasmine seavoy Brown uh a lot of talented actresses but Sophie Thatcher is is part of that group now she plays uh the younger Juliet Lewis and has a very similar Vibe very similar Vibe very good casting there and she as I said she's fantastic on that show and it was so exciting to see her get heretic where she's also very good but she had a smaller part there so it's very exciting to see her here in such a good movie as the lead a and she just does such a fantastic job but you know it's
interesting at first I wasn't totally sold on her as a companion robot because she has a very real look uh as opposed to a plastic look like think about how summer glow was so well cast in The Sarah Connor Chron Chronicles as a Terminator oh what a show that was they knew what they would that was a great show uh you know if you like Sarah Conor Chronicles you can see where I am in the Sci-Fi genre um you know you would you would really like a companion so like for the first 20 minutes of
this movie like the first you know until things really got going and it you kind of switched out you know switched to like what it became and her and uh you know Sophie Thatcher's role really opened up you know I was like did Samara weaving miss out on a great opportunity maybe she would have been better cast but you know when you think about it you can imagine a real model being offered because you don't want everyone knowing that you have a robot girlfriend so you know Sophie Thatcher seems very human uh Thatcher also has
an incredibly strong personality especially if you're familiar with her work it's like Juliet Lewis you know you be like why' you Pro program this robot to be so quirky and have such a strong personality like it makes it hard to believe that she would be so innocently fawning all over Jack Quaid she's like I hope your friends like me and you're like you're like what have you done to Sophie Thatcher uh but once again as I said the movie really gets going and it gets right into Sophie Thatcher's wheelhouse she's incredible I want only good
things for Sophie Thatcher I love her as an actress she's close to the scream queen crown some of you feel she already wears it but I feel this this really you know bobby pins it to her head uh but not only does thater do a great job in the role but I think she does something that's very difficult and that's another great reason to cast her and that's she makes the character of Iris likable and relatable to women even though companion robots Are Meant to replace women so the fact that Sophie Thatcher manages to make
her likable and you find yourself as a woman rooting for her I think is a very impressive feat as an actress and but yet still at the same time I think you know we'll see how guys react and what the turnout is still checking all the boxes that you know the male audience would want in an actress playing uh the companion robot so I thought she was fantastic Jack Quaid wow like father like son you know Dennis Quaid is coming off of a incredibly sleazy performance in the substance which she just knocks out of the
park you know demim mo and Margaret qua are getting a lot of attention for their work in that movie and I don't know why Dennis Quaid isn't getting some at least some attention as well and here's his son jack Quaid equally willing to slee it up I mean this it's a great character that he's playing and Quaid is willing to go as far as writer director Hancock needs him to which is really far I was like wow I think there's nothing jack quaade won't do I mean we already kind of knew that from the boys
but it's interesting to me that of all the great talent in the boys he's the one who's doing the best Maybe because he maybe have his family connections or something like that but I'm like I mean Carl Urban and Anthony star are starting to get more work but you know and I like Jack Quaid but it's interesting to me that he you know he has the most coming up right now Harvey guen and Lucas Gage are also in the movie as a gay couple on this weekend retreat as well uh Guan is from what we
do in the shadows and Gage you know he's not only from the White Lotus but he's the actor from that Infamous audition tape where that director was insulting his his apartment and didn't realize that he wasn't on mute because he was auditioning from home during the pandemic that was you know that I mean it ended up actually really helping Lucas Gage's career uh they both do a fantastic job here they're both very funny some of their scenes have real heart but also real terror they get to participate in all the fun and they are a
big part of the movie uh Megan sui is also in the film is a real live woman who resents understandably having to pretend to be friends with a robot which is part of a group Men to replace her right and other women like her uh but and all so she does a great job I can't give you too many details about their roles and then yes that's rert friend under there that's hilarious he's playing a rich Shady older Russian who owns the house that they're staying in for the weekend he was so good if you
liked Megan and or liked scream and why wouldn't you like those two movies they're fantastic but then you will like this movie as well it is as I said extremely well written and executed and a really great lowbudget horror film that's wildly original and inent and inventive and I feel really delivers sure as I said you could catch it down the line on digital or maybe even streaming but then I think some of the twists particularly the big ones will be ruined for you which would be a real shame now let's talk about that rating
the movie is rated R but mostly for violence and Gore even though it's a movie about a companion robot I would say in that regard it remains PG-13 right on the edge of of PG-13 I mean you do see a pretty amazing shot of let's just say I don't want to give anything away qu in a compromising position but it was very funny and very well done also very effective uh but everything else is either discussed or takes place off screen and you only hear it for a little bit there and there's no nudity now
some of you might be like what in a movie about a companion robot but again put on your business hat and I think that's the right choice for this movie to optimize its chances at the box office and have have as broad an audience is possible and it doesn't cheat on that though I think it still represents that aspect of the story I really thought it was great U but some of you might be like you know I guess if if women think it's great maybe but you know then go watch you know what the
content to watch if that's what you're looking for this is a great story and I think it really is just really well thought out if someone said they wanted to make a movie about a companion robot of course I think a lot of us particularly women would roll our eyes so the fact that I'm like wow what a great movie about a Bon robot CH I just think how well it's done and I think a lot of people coming from different viewpoints um would enjoy it uh sorry so that's my non-spoiler review of companion that's
all I can say about it I don't want to ruin anything about the movie it hits theaters next Friday January 31st and I really think you should see it I really do again Megan scream it's a great fit with those all right so share your thoughts down below subscribe today and of course as always you can check out some more videos right now [Music]
