Directed By Christopher Landon

Starring – Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane

The Plot – A widowed mother named Violet (Fahy) who is on her first date in years, arrives at an upscale restaurant where she is relieved that her date, Henry (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.

Rated PG-13 for strong violent content, suicide, some strong adult language and sexual references.

DROP | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

It’s my belief that if Alfred Hitchcock were still alive, he would be crafting tautly claustrophobic thrillers like “Drop”, particularly for its exuberance of scintillating stylistic impulses and continuously elevating tension that takes date night to entirely new heights. Christopher Landon has made a career out of ferociously fun slashers to this point in his career, but this film might serve to be his eventual magnum opus, with the expressive essence of his visual spectrum featuring contorted camera motions, isolated lighting techniques, and on-screen text meant to reflect the means of the advantageous antagonist, who always remains one step up on this terrified woman who has no idea of the room that she just walked into. Cleverly, the text itself reflects backwards any time Fahy stands across a mirror, crafting a unique touch in permanency that proves the detail that went into the concept, but beyond that, the versatility of angles and camera placement to the movie’s cinematography goes a long way towards eliciting an anxious feeling that only grows all the more unsettling the further this plot unravels, which on its own merits proves an abundance of confidence that Landon has for Gillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, in handing down the writing duties after consistent successes writing “Happy Death Day” or “Freaky”. While the audience will come for the simplistically constructed but entertaining plot shrouded in the kind of mystery that faithfully keeps us hanging onto its every scene inside of a nearly perfectly paced and airtight 90 minutes, the real gem of the material pertains to domestic abuse and how it makes the concept of blind dating, which is already terrifying on its own means, all the more anxiety-fueled when you factor everything that Fahy’s character has gone through, which we coherently interpret during the movie’s opening scene. It’s certainly not the deepest delve at the sensitive subject as something like “The Invisible Man” capably conjured, but it proves that the dynamic duo of writers are far above simply just entertaining kicks to supplant an audience, instead investing ample time and immersive experience to the dreaded disposition that many women face in attempting to pick up the pieces for them and their loved ones, which makes it all the easier to invest in her and Henry’s first date, especially with the radiant work from Fahy and Sklenar, who are perfectly cast with a certain kind of chemistry that is anything but completely romantic. In picking them, the production clearly have leaned into the tenderly tense and reserved sides of their respective depictions, relying heavily on the charismatic charms of each lead to keep it all the more engaging towards the audience, and once the two start to open up towards one another, they feel every bit as naturally believable and permeating with connection as any couple from a romantic comedy that you’ve ever experienced, showcasing each of them exceptionally towards roles that could otherwise feel overwhelmed by a plot that attempts to steal center stage from both of them. Fahy was the only good part of this year’s dreaded “The Unbreakable Boy”, so it’s nice to see her get a chance with a film that actually meets her halfway, and Meghann’s ability to convey this dampening feeling of the weight of the world on her shoulders plays effectively well to the familiarity of date nights gone cold, combined with impeccably bold and emotive facial registries that effortlessly emit the empathetic factor in a situation that always feels two steps ahead of her means of resolution at all times. Sklenar also follows up a memorable turn in last year’s controversial hit “It Ends With Us”, this time taking more of a leading role as the meticulously measured Henry. The palpable feeling of comfort and reliance that Sklenar supplants to Henry in continuously aiding Violet proves that he’s so much more than a handsome face, but I found the internal conflict within him exposed externally to be his best work in front of the lens, as it’s that feeling of embarrassment and disappointment that essentially gauges the well-being of this date night gone wrong, and while Fahy does steal most of the focus of the movie’s narrative, the mystique that Sklenar revels in as a character who plays it close to the shoulder feels just as compelling, and the film wouldn’t be half as good as it is without the reliant work of either of them. Lastly, I can’t talk about the movie’s best aspects without discussing Bear McCreary’s evolvingly riveting series of compositions that underline so much tension and urgency to the movie’s most defining sequences. While Landon’s direction certainly does a firm job towards defining the stakes of the situation, McCreary’s instrumentals ratchet anxiousness in ways that feel like a boiling powder keg, and while it would be easy for so many of these themes to feel interchangeable, particularly in scoring one distinct emotional resonance in tone throughout the film, the iconic composer inscribes a wide range of persistence that feels like the needles that continuously poke at Violet’s means for resolution, leveling an evidential impact that have made him one of the most sought after composers in Hollywood today.

NEGATIVES

As can be expected in any movie involving such a gimmick to its plot, the audience’s final grade will ascend or descend as a result of its big reveal, and while I can say that my disappointment with certain matters in the logic to the uncovering of the orchestrator didn’t entirely compromise my opinion of the film post-watch, I would be lying if I said it didn’t take more forgiveness than I should have to give any movie. Without spoiling anything, I can say that the who of this mystery is illogical in more ways than one, especially once you consider where they’re asked to be at all times, in order to keep an eye and ear on Violet. It’s one of those reveals that in turn unfortunately brings to light more logical leaps with the way it treats technology, as well as the clarity and coherence of a room involving at least fifty people talking audibly over one another, and though I did accurately predict who the culprit was, as early as the movie’s ten minute mark, telegraphing isn’t as big of a problem as another movie production that evidently doesn’t fully understand how technology works, producing these silly constructed individual conflicts that I had no choice but to laugh at. In addition to disappointment with the big reveal and where everything is forcefully fit, the tension of the movie takes a bit of a beating while being asked to share screentime with an overzealously performed waiter, whose elevated to eleven approach got old as quickly as the second time that he returns to the table. I can wholeheartedly understand that Jacobs and Roach’s objective is to insight the same kind of cool factor and infectious energy to the film that Landon himself has made a career out of, however the supporting character veers quite quickly towards annoyingly overwhelming than charmingly endearing, and the result is not only the abrupt halting of the movie’s aforementioned tension, which feels like it has to start all over again, each time the waiter leaves the table, but also the most desperately unconfident means of material, to which audiences won’t know to laugh or feel creeped out by, and the result of supplanting another memorably quirky side character instead becomes a test of nerves for a movie that comes nowhere close to overstaying its welcome. Finally, while I found most of the presentational aspects to satisfy the visionary spectrum of Landon’s impulses, the editing came across as distracting, where everything else felt innovative, particularly in the rhythms of the conversations between Violet and Henry, which felt like they overstepped upon one another. Part of the intention is to obviously illustrate the uncomfortable anxiousness of two strangers sharing a dinner with one another, but it constantly feels like the movie doesn’t value these quietly secluded moments as much as it does the dramatically frenetic ones, as a result of the rushed pacing between interactions that continuously make it feel like they’re racing to a red light. With more time spent among them to define their dynamic a bit tighter, it wouldn’t feel like these quiet scenes are going through the motions before ratcheting up the tension once more, in turn relaxing the editing to actually make it feel like these characters are legitimately there to spend time with one another.

OVERALL
“Drop” takes date nights to devastatingly dangerous heights, both with Christopher Landon’s spellbinding stylistic impulses and Gillian Jacobs and Chris Roach’s throughs of thrills that cements frights and fun inside of this tautly constructed dinner date. While the logic lapses the longer you think about it, once the mystery culprit is eventually revealed, the magnetically alluring charms of Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar, as well as a responsibly dire delve into the anxieties of domestic abuse, the film reaches Hitchcockian levels of horror that don’t abide by the blood or jump scares that contemporary audiences are typically used to, instead roaming towards a deeper connection that makes this better than it had any right to be.

My Grade: 7.6 or B