DROP (2025)

Genre: Thriller
Director: Christopher Landon
Cast: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Gabrielle Ryan, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks, Travis Nelson
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Violence and Coarse Language)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 10 April 2025

Synopsis: Emmy nominee Meghann Fahy, breakout star of White Lotus and The Perfect Couple, plays Violet, a widowed mother on her first date in years, who arrives at an upscale restaurant where she is relieved that her date, Henry (It Ends with Us’ Brandon Sklenar) is more charming and handsome than she expected. But their chemistry begins to curdle as Violet begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone. She is instructed to tell nobody and follow instructions or the hooded figure she sees on her home security cameras will kill Violet’s young son and babysitting sister. Violet must do exactly as directed or everyone she loves will die. Her unseen tormentor’s final directive? Kill Henry.

Movie Review:

For the past decade or so, Christopher Landon has been the creative genius of a number of high-concept B-movie thrillers; that includes ‘Happy Death Day’ and its sequel, ‘Freaky’ and the ‘Paranomral Activity’ sequels.

‘Drop’ belongs squarely in that category, what with its premise of a recently divorced single mother Violet (The White Lotus‘s Meghann Fahy) who on her first date in years is taunted by a series of ‘drops’ that go from weird to deadly. To avoid getting Apple on their backs, the movie positions these under a fictional app called ‘DigiDrops’, although the reference is obvious; and to ensure that it stays grounded to reality, the technology here is similarly confined to the geographical proximity of a 50-feet radius or less.

To up the ante, Violet’s date happens to be at a restaurant called Palate that is located on the top floor of a downtown Chicago skyscraper’s 38^th-floor. That not only narrows her options for escape or seeking help, but also turns this into a tense whodunnit as Violet looks frantically around the restaurant to try to figure out who within has been dropping her these threats.

It should not come as a surprise that these demands have something to do with her date Henry (It Ends With Us‘ Brendon Sklenar), a press photographer who happens to work in the Mayor’s office. Over the course of the evening, it becomes clear that the real target is in fact Henry and not Violet per se, and that Henry had discovered something as part of his work that some bad people had wanted erased.

Even if it does unfold in not quite so unpredictable ways, Landon knows just how to crank up the tension bit by bit. Making full use of the confines of the location as well as the limits of the conceit, Landon engineers a number of taut mini set-pieces, including a close shave in the ladies, another at the restaurant’s reception desk while trying to ask for help through an online messaging chat, a message scribbled on a dollar bill for the pianist, and last but not least, an attempt to poison Henry as demanded by her intimidator.

Only in the finale does Landon change the scene of the action, relocating the proceedings from the restaurant back to Violet’s home, where her sister (Violett Beane) has been babysitting her son (Jacob Robinson). That has a similarly claustrophobic feel, not unlike the opening scene in ‘Scream’, and once again Landon demonstrates a firm grasp of build-up and release with a nail-biting finish.

Landon also has an absolutely game performer in Fahy, who delivers a masterclass in restrained panic. You can literally feel her anxiety onscreen as she realises the stakes involved, as well as her nerves trying to keep up a façade with Henry while fulfilling the villainous mastermind’s bidding in order to keep her son and sister alive. Putting her piercing blue eyes to good use, Fahy knows just how to calibrate her portrait of twitchy nervousness to pitch perfection, and thanks to Fahy, you’ll find yourself easily rooting for Violet to get through the night.

‘Drop’ isn’t terribly smart or inventive, but within its high-concept, Landon delivers an efficient, effective and economical Hitchcockian thriller that will keep you enthralled from start to finish. For what it’s worth, ‘Drop’ is a genre exercise that will hold – not drop – your attention with its techno-paranoiac premise, and as long as you’re prepared to go along for the ride, you’ll enjoy its brand of pulpy, nervy fun.

Movie Rating:

(A high-concept B-movie done right, 'Drop' offers pulpy, nervy fun in a Hitchcockian-style thriller)

Review by Gabriel Chong