Universal Studios
Getting back on the horse is daunting in most scenarios, and when it comes to the world of dating, widowed mother Violet (Meghann Fahy) is a ball of nerves before her first date in years, but her sister Jen (Violett Beane) manages to convince her to go ahead with her date while she stays behind to babysit Violet’s son, Toby (Jacob Robinson).
Once she arrives at the swanky restaurant for her rendezvous, Violet begins to receive unsolicited airdrops on her phone.
By the time her date Henry (Brandon Sklenar) finally arrives, Violet is nervous for a whole different set of reasons, as she is receiving increasingly insidious messages from someone who wants her to do their bidding lest she wants Jen and Toby to die.
What unfolds is an ever-escalating cat-and-mouse game between Violet and the anonymous airdropper terrorzing her by seemingly always being one step ahead of her, and as it becomes clear to Violet that she is besieged by someone in the restaurant, she must find out who the culprit is before it is too late.
High concept thrillers tend to be balanced on a knife edge by default, the success of this narrative balancing act being dependent on an amalgamation of filmmaking prowess and the audience’s willingness to sufficiently suspend their disbelief.
In Drop, director Christopher Landon of Freaky and the Happy Death Day duology fame utilizes on-screen graphics displaying the threatening messages and Dutch angles galore to imbue the film with a dizzying feel, seeking to emphasize Violet’s anxiety and distress by doing so; these creative choices could easily have become tiresome, however, thanks to a strong performance by Fahy, the more farfetched elements are juxtaposed by her grounded vulnerability, which is expertly conveyed, and therefore avoids becoming disengagingly melodramatic.
With Fahy being given the most elbow room to flesh out her character, the remaining cast portrays a multitude of archetypes, playing with the viewer’s expectations and their ability to accurately identify one red herring after another.
This is done with sufficient skill to allow tension to be sustained throughout the film, and while Drop hardly merits repeat viewings, the commitment to sincerely execute the narrative within its constructive framework shines through, and is engaging while it lasts.
Better than it has any right to be, Drop hardly breaks any new ground, however, it is a competent and entertaining whodunnit that lends from the playbooks of both Agatha Christie and Alfred Hitchcock.
While Landon’s previous efforts as a comedy horror writer-director are decidedly more memorable, Drop nonetheless manages to stay afloat as a novelty that does what it says on the tin, and sometimes that is good enough.
Extras include audio commentary and featurettes.
Verdict: 6 out of 10.
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