Drop (dir. Christopher Landon)

By: Adam Freed

In a gorgeous circular restaurant nestled amongst the sea of skyscrapers that constitute Chicago’s pristine skyline, Violet bravely attempts to survive the worst first date in human history. The date does not suffer as a result of her counterpart Henry, a seemingly kind and patient companion, but rather the encounter is hijacked by a mysterious tech heavy plot to manipulate Violet into doing the unthinkable. Drop, directed by Christopher Landon and distributed by renowned horror purveyor Blumhouse Studios, overcomes the simplicity of its proceedings to unveil a campy and electrically entertaining night out at the cinema. 

Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus, Miss Sloane) gives life to Violet, a widow and survivor of an abusive relationship.  Fahy, who is unmistakably in command of the proceedings, leans into the vulnerabilities of a single mother desperately seeking normalcy through companionship.  Fahy’s gift is that despite her undeniable beauty, is able to earn the empathy of audiences by making herself someone for whom it is easy to root.  Violet’s date Henry is played admirably by Brandon Sklenar (It Ends with Us, The Offer), a political photographer who lovably desires to give the widowed Violet all of the time and space she needs in an attempt to return her personal life to a form of stasis.  The palpable chemistry between Fahy and Sklenar is predictably interrupted by the film’s kinetic conflict, one that is sure to leave audiences screaming at the screen with anxiety.  

Drop amounts to a one room mystery, very much akin to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope (1948), and like Hithcock’s early masterwork, Drop minimizes its runtime, clocking in at 90 minutes, in order to maximize the impact of each tension-filled moment.  Adding also to the string of successful decisions that results in Drop being greater than the sum of its parts, is the restraint shown by Blumhouse to edit the film to ensure a PG-13 rating.  By muting some of the more grisly elements that have come to define the studio, Christopher Landon’s film is forced to exist on a tightrope of tension, a wonderful evolutionary decision for Blumhouse’s market appeal.

Drop is an excellent example of a film that requires very little investment on the part of an audience and yet over delivers in the face of it in its execution. One of the keys to pulling off a one room mystery is creating a compelling and textured environment, yet ensuring the room is realistic enough to allow audiences to see themselves as replacement level entities for the characters on screen.  Drop accomplishes this difficult task with certainty.  There is an undeniably predictable level of certainty as to how Drop is going to resolve itself, but it is a great deal of fun witnessing the torturous events unfold in pursuit of the film’s climax.

Target Score 7/10 -  Drop is a rare PG-13 thriller from Blumhouse Studios. The enjoyable tech mystery pits a single mother, attempting to enjoy a first date against a faceless assailant attempting to puppet her towards disaster. There is a communal and experiential element to Drop that makes experiencing it in a theater feel necessary.