Companion

We first meet "Iris" (Sophie Thatcher) and boyfriend "Josh" (Jack Quaid) as they take his self-drive car into the wilderness to meet with some of his friends at the home of millionaire "Sergey" (a delightfully over-the-top Rupert Friend). She's not at all keen on his pals. She thinks they look down on her. He tries to reassure her and when they arrive we are introduced to "Kat" (Megan Suri) and to loved-up "Eli" (Harvey Guillén) and "Patrick" (Lukas Gage). She was right, they don't much like her and at this point (for me, anyway) the penny started to drop. The married "Sergey" is supposed to be dating "Kat" but he's obviously a bit of a Lothario who tries it on with "Iris" and, well let's just say he probably wished he hadn't. Thing is, though, there's an whole load of manipulation going on here and it doesn't take "Iris", or us, long to realise that nothing is really as it seems. There's a fun chemistry on display here between Thatcher and Quaid and auteur Drew Hancock has crafted an entertaining scenario that avoids the standard cabin-in-the-woods style horror feature. This is a darkly comedic "careful what you've wished for" style of drama that has some decent menace intermingled with a few shades of Dan Stevens in "Cuckoo" from last year, too. For me, though, it's the dentally perfect Gage who steals the show proving the very point that true love isn't just skin deep and not everyone keeps their brains in their head! Amidst a tired and formulaic genre, this offers a refreshing change well worth a watch.