If you really, really want to experience “Companion” with its not-very-well-hidden twists intact, stop reading right now. (And don’t watch the trailer or talk to anyone about it.) Because, about 20 minutes into the film, we learn something: Its wide-eyed main character, Iris (Sophie Thatcher, who played the less-naive missionary in “Heretic”), is a robot, an “emotional support robot” to be exact. And, quite early in the film, she appears to have murdered a shady millionaire while on a vacation weekend with friends — but since robots have no agency, clearly someone else is really to blame.

“Companion,” written and directed by Drew Hancock, is a tidy if bloodstained little thriller with a clever idea at its core: What if a handsome but amoral dude (Jack Quaid) took on a robot girlfriend — one whose intelligence he could dial up (or down) with the swipe of a finger, and whose personality he can completely reboot at will? And what if she was unable to do anything but tell the truth? And what if, after carrying out his wicked plans, she somehow found the tiniest bit of humanity — or, at least, a very human instinct for escape?

Hancock moves the action along nicely, and finds plenty of dark wit along the way — a car’s Siri-like voice cheering Iris on, a character criticizing another for “robo-shaming,” the Bee Gees’ “Emotion” over the final credits, a very funny scene in which the perpetually honest Iris confesses everything to a cop, but, since she’s been switched to German voice mode, he has no idea what she’s saying. Thatcher finds a nicely eerie balance between robotic stillness and genuine fear, and you find yourself rooting for her to succeed. Toward the end, she tells her very first lie, and pronounces it “kind of fun.” Indeed.

———

'COMPANION'

3 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong violence, sexual content, and language throughout)

Running time: 1:37

How to watch: In theaters Jan. 31

———

©2025 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.