Meghann Fahy stars in this nail-biting thriller from screenwriter and director Christopher Landon, a far cry from his traditional supernatural horrors such as Paranormal Activity and Happy Death Day, but nevertheless retaining many of their rapid fire qualities. In Drop, Fahy does a great job as leading lady, a widowed mother who is blackmailed via dropped messages on a first date, and the film itself is entertaining enough – but it’s certainly not bound to win awards anytime soon.
At the top of one of Chicago’s highest skyscrapers, Violet and Henry (Brandon Sklenar) are having their first date. Violet is on edge, consistently checking her phone for signs that her son Toby (Jacob Robinson) is okay under the watch of her perfectly adept sister Jen (Violett Beane). Henry is understanding and patient, the best kind of date. This is until she starts receiving “Digi-Drops”, pictures, then messages that gradually begin to taunt her, and derail the promise of a happy evening. And when Violet is asked to commit one of the worst acts imaginable, she is forced to face the ultimate dilemma if she wants to keep her family safe.
Drop is marvellously skilled in its way of making everyone a suspect – though characters are somewhat awkwardly introduced (via accidentally running into each other at the entrance, for instance) and the actors seem to have been given an “act suspicious” memo, this doesn’t weigh it down. A simple shot of everyone on their phone at the same time as Violet receiving a drop is enough to keep on the toes. Cinematographer Marc Spicer also does an excellent job in conveying Violet’s solitude, if at times slightly dramatic – a scene in the bathrooms in which she realises what she is being asked to do was strangely reminiscent of Harry Potter’s stunt in the girls’ toilets in the Chamber of Secrets. Fahy and Sklenar have a solid amount of chemistry as leading couple, doing all of the right things – Violet is respectable and attractive (though if she had just put her phone on [profanity] silent, they might have enjoyed the duck salad and truffle mashed potato in peace), while Henry is funny and very generously patient with her constant phone checking. The supporting ensemble, be it Jen at home with her casual sisterly dissing or piano man Phil and waiter Matt at the restaurant, do a good enough job of keeping the film fresh, though this is no doubt where it veers into the caricatural and tedious. It is really in the final twenty minutes that Drop loses all of its brownie points – up until then plot holes and slightly underdone acting could and had been forgiven, but the sheer atrocities that occur in the final segment are what cement it as a spring thriller flick of little value. In my eyes, last year’s Carry On did a finer job of the whole ‘earpiece blackmail’ genre. Nevertheless, though Drop might in this sense not be the most original or even remotely good, its entertainment value is still sky high.
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