Widowed Violet Gates steps back into the dating game, only to receive mysterious threatening text drops during her date. Turning her evening into a game of sheer panic and survival.
Directed by Christopher Landon who gave us the brilliantly wacky horror comedies “Happy Death Day” and “Freaky” comes a deep dive into modern technology and how it can lead us electronically into a world of unknown possible heartache and indeed danger. “Drop” dropped with its premiere at the ‘South by SouthWest’ festival in March with a comparatively modest budget of $11million going onto general release in mid-April worldwide. The premise of Landon’s film strangely began to parallel his own life, after receiving death threats himself with the firing of Melissa Barrera after the backlash from “Scream 6” going into filming “Scream 7”. Christopher Landon felt he then needed to leave the Scream franchise for the safety of his own family.
Filmed in Dublin, Ireland with the gorgeous backdrops of Chicago added in post, Landon mainly required a bespoke built closed set for the tense restaurant scenes that took just four weeks on a fully functional beautifully lit interior. Using vertical gold bars the director was looking for ‘gilded cage’ vibes trapping not only Violet on her date but indeed the entire audience, creating an intentional claustrophobia that does come across well. Starring Meghann Fahy (The Bold Type) as our heroine Violet Gates, now an abuse therapist she meets her handsome prince in the form of professional photographer Henry Campbell played by Brandon Sklenar of recent controversial “It Ends with Us”. Drop is predominantly a professionally acted two hander with a well chosen supporting cast who fit their roles perfectly well, including Gabriell Ryan as bartender Cara, Reed Diamond as other blind dater Richard, and Jeffrey Self as wacky table server Matt.
‘Drop’ in itself is not in any way a new premise of the tense ‘boy meets girl’, yet it is up to date with how it puts its story across in todays’ fast moving connected age. A date night in a beautiful restaurant turns into an evening quite literally from hell with Violet’s immediate requirement for keeping her family safe, she must follow to the letter the instructions from her intimidating, close proximity stranger. Toxic conversations using mobile text speak have been done many times before but Landon’s interpretation has given this further edge over recent offerings. Turning the gorgeous backdrops of the bathroom and restaurant walls into the larger than life text screens that seem to close in around her giving us something far more tense as Violet begins to feel suffocated by the threat from her tormenting stranger. From the very someone who is holding her immediate family to ransom in the form of Jacob Robinson as Violet’s son and Violett Beane as her sister.
Ultimately Drop is a tense game of heroine vs unknown stranger and Landon’s approach gives us a familiar tale but with a slicker script to keep us hooked to the very end. The set design works well bringing us nicely into the middle of the restaurant, however the title may be a little misleading as to how the film progresses. Written as a standalone, Drop has been created as a contained project, although talks of further collaborations with Meghann Fahy and Christopher Landon are already being discussed. Happy Death Day fans will also be pleased with talks of “Happy Death Day To Us” set for release in 2027.
Drop is a ride that will satisfy those with the hunger for a sharp script and a beautiful backdrop.
Author: Piers, Maidstone Store
