‘Drop’ Review

Stars: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Ed Weeks, Jeffery Self, Gabrielle Ryan, Reed Diamond | Written by Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach | Directed by Christopher Landon

Director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky) returns with high-concept suspense thriller Drop, which cleverly combines the anxiety of a first date with the type of unseen assailant threat familiar from films like Phone Booth, Grand Piano and the more recent Carry On. As such, it’s hugely enjoyable, and the sort of movie where the ridiculous contrivance is a big part of the fun.

After a tense prologue, which isn’t explained until later and could either be a flashback or a flash-forward, Drop opens with single mother Violet (Meghann Fahy, from the second season of White Lotus) nervously preparing for a first date, encouraged by her younger sister Jen (Violett Beane), who will be babysitting Violet’s 5 year-old son Toby (Jacob Robinson) for the evening. Already anxious because this is her first date since the death of her abusive husband a couple of years previously, Violet heads to the venue, a fancy, high-rise restaurant in Chicago, where she meets Henry (Brandon Sklenar), a 30 year-old photographer she’s been chatting to on Tinder for several months.

At first, everything seems fine, but Violet keeps receiving mysterious Digi-Drops (AirDrops) on her phone, sending threatening memes in an attempt to get her to open messages. Initially, she tells Henry, and he informs her that the messages have to be coming from someone inside the restaurant because they’re limited to a 50-foot radius, so it’s probably just a bunch of nearby kids playing pranks.

However, when Violet finally opens a message, she’s asked to check the security cameras at her house, whereupon she realises that someone has broken in and will kill both her sister and her young son unless she does what the mysterious stranger asks. Now forced to keep the messages secret from Henry and pretend everything is fine, Violet has to find some way to outwit her assailant without raising the alarm, but the situation quickly becomes desperate when the Digi-Dropper asks her to kill her date.

The script, by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, does a good job of introducing potential suspects. Is it the trying-too-hard improv comedy waiter (Jeffery Self)? The likeable, supportive bartender (Gabrielle Ryan)? The goofy 50-something (Reed Diamond), also on a first date? The sleazy restaurant pianist (Ed Weeks)? Or one of the aforementioned group of twenty-somethings? The problem is that practically every suspect is glued to their phone, which doesn’t really narrow things down.

Drop‘s biggest surprise is that the audience is just as invested in whether the date works out as it is in whether Violet manages to outwit her anonymous tormentor. That’s down to both the savvy script – which nails the tentative first date dialogue – and the palpable chemistry between Fahy and Sklenar.

In addition, there are multiple twists and red herrings and Landon has a good sense of pace, as well as knowing exactly when to ramp up the suspense. A key element to making this kind of film work is for the script to exhaust every option the audience can come up with, and that’s exactly what happens here, to thrilling effect.

Landon has form when it comes to getting star-making performances out of his female leads (the fact that Happy Death Day‘s Jessica Rothe doesn’t yet have the career she deserves is nothing short of an injustice) and he pulls off the same trick here with Fahy, who’s terrific as Violet, effectively getting to showcase multiple aspects of the character, from romcom adorableness to resourceful action heroine to emotional dramatics. Sklenar is equally good, delivering an immediately likeable performance as Henry and there’s strong work from the entire supporting cast.

Drop also benefits from some impressive production design work (the restaurant is entirely invented for the film) and lighting choices, while Marc Spicer’s cinematography does a great job of making the restaurant feel increasingly claustrophobic as the ordeal continues. That’s also helped by the decision to have the mysterious messages flash up on the walls of the restaurant, rather than restricting them to Violet’s phone, a visual conceit that works well.

In short, the concept might be inherently silly, but Drop is fully aware of this and gleefully makes the most of it. The result is a gripping, inventive and consistently entertaining thriller that’s also surprisingly romantic. Recommended.

**** 4/5

Drop is in cinemas now.