Rating: 6/10
If a thriller about a woman terrorized by evil memes seems like it would be hard to take seriously, you’d be more than right.
“Drop” is the newest film by director Christopher Landon and production company Blumhouse, which has produced horror films such as “The Purge,” “Halloween (2018)” and “M3GAN.”
The film follows Violet (Meghann Fahy), a domestic abuse survivor and single mother who goes on a first date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar), a photographer who is also re-entering the dating scene.
Things go south on their date as Violet begins receiving a string of “drops,” similar to Apple’s AirDrop feature, revealing that her sister and son are being held hostage back in her home.
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If she doesn’t do what the drops tell her to do, her family will die, which becomes a glaring issue for Violet as each task gets more demanding. As a result of her predicament, Violet must stay in the restaurant and play along with the antagonist’s game, all while trying to figure out who is behind her torment.
For a story primarily set and confined to one location, “Drop” has an immersive set in the form of Palate, the fictional restaurant where the film takes place. It is layered with multiple sections, and each of these components gets its own time to shine. Whether it be the bar or the bathroom, each room in Palate nails the look of an upscale restaurant in downtown Chicago, where the film takes place.
Although Landon is a director who has fun playing around with the elements of his screenplay, there is almost always a gimmick to his movies that gets mundane by the end.
For example, in his film “Happy Death Day,” a girl experiences a “Groundhog Day” situation where every time she dies, she wakes up, causing her to relive the same day until she finds out who is behind her murder.
Landon’s other film, “Freaky,” sees a serial killer switch bodies with a high school girl, allowing him to kill people her age while she attempts to stop him in his body.
These plot devices are often fun at first, but once their novelty wears off, they lose their charm.
“Drop” is no different, as the main antagonist’s defining feature is their use of a messaging system to send Violet threatening messages and evil memes.
Although this is a clever use of a modern form of communication, this instantly dates the film for years to come, possibly making future rewatches hard to sit through and confusing for subsequent generations.
Despite this, Landon uses these messages to play around with the environment as the text messages and video feed blend into the background, amplifying the severity of each notification.
This is better than simply having a shot of what’s on Violet’s phone, as it creates a nice variety of shots that immerse the viewer.
The camerawork in “Drop” is stellar when blended with the moments where messages come in. Audiences get to move alongside Violet and her frantic attempts to stop what is happening to her and her family.
These elements are stylistic and often intriguing to watch, but lack the substance to back them up throughout the entire runtime.
The majority of the drops that Violet receives come off as goofy because of their meme nature, and they become repetitive by the 30-minute mark.
As for the twist, it’s surprising but comes almost out of nowhere. It ends up diminishing its themes of trauma and surviving domestic abuse, entirely depending on a string of coincidences that leaves more questions behind rather than answering them.
This would be a plus for the film, but seeing as how Landon directed both “Happy Death Day” films, where the characters try to decipher who is behind a string of murders, these out-of-nowhere twists are nothing new.
Although it’s a low bar, “Drop” is one of Blumhouse’s best films in recent years, even if it’s nothing to write home about. It’s a formulaic movie that admittedly has its moments, which barely make it stand on its own two legs.
