{"id":1418123,"date":"2025-01-22T15:02:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T15:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/?p=1418123"},"modified":"2025-01-27T14:30:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T14:30:11","slug":"companion-reminds-us-that-horror-has-always-been-queer-af","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/films\/companion-reminds-us-that-horror-has-always-been-queer-af\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Companion\u2019 reminds us that horror has always been queer af"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The upcoming genre-bending twisted thriller is a subversive must-watch with just the right hint of camp.<\/p>\n<p>IN PARTNERSHIP WITH<strong> WARNER BROTHERS UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/COM-FP-0009.jpg\" \/><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Within the world of horror, sexual and social norms are subverted in a struggle for survival. Whether making outsiders powerful villains or allowing those who live outside of social expectations to ultimately triumph, the conventions of the wider world no longer matter when the stakes are life or death.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Upcoming horror-thriller <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companion<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a reminder of the powerful appeal that the genre holds for queer audiences. With a cast that features scream queen Sophie Thatcher and queer faves <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvey Guill\u00e9n and Lukas Gage, Companion follows <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI companion Iris as she battles to find autonomy and live authentically (relatable!).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Below, we unpack the film\u2019s resonance for LGBTQIA+ and female audiences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Female autonomy\u00a0<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Companion<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> stars our fave scream queen Sophie Thatcher (a breakout star of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yellowjackets<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) as Iris.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Iris thinks she\u2019s found her rom-com meet-cute after she bumps into Josh (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Boys<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019 Jack Quaid) in a grocery store. However, when he invites her for a weekend away, she soon realises the truth: she doesn\u2019t just dress like a Stepford Wife, she\u2019s actually a highly sophisticated AI companion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What ensues is a struggle for freedom as Iris fights to escape Josh\u2019s control \u2013 a process of defying gender and sexual norms that evokes the process of \u2018social deprogramming\u2019 which many queer folks and women undergo in order to live as their most authentic selves.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><b>Nuanced depictions of queerness<\/b><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among the film\u2019s supporting cast are <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harvey Guill\u00e9n and Lukas Gage, who play Eli and Patrick: a gay couple among Josh\u2019s affluent friendship group.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The duo provide an explicit representation of queerness within the horror genre, where often LGBTQIA+ identities are subtly queer-coded rather than openly embodied.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Their identities are never played for laughs and they\u2019re not merely used as props \u2013 instead, the characters are an important part of the film\u2019s narrative fabric.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b data-stringify-type=\"bold\">Companion is released in UK cinemas from Friday. Book tickets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.warnerbros.co.uk\/movies\/companion?utm_source=gay%20times&amp;utm_medium=display&amp;utm_campaign=thtcompanion#book-tickets\">here<\/a> and check out the trailer below.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Qr_kX0D3DNA?si=TEEIiuVioRbcSFeF\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The upcoming genre-bending twisted thriller is a subversive must-watch with just the right hint of camp. IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WARNER BROTHERS UK Within the world of horror, sexual and social\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7364,"featured_media":1418138,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"templates\/feature.php","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[658,258],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>\u2018Companion\u2019 reminds us that horror has always been queer af<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The upcoming genre-bending twisted thriller is a subversive must-watch with just the right hint of camp.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/films\/companion-reminds-us-that-horror-has-always-been-queer-af\/\" \/>\n<meta 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