Drop

Violet is a widowed mother who, during her first date in years, receives threatening AirDropped messages on her phone. She ignores them at first, obviously. But when the anonymous sender threatens to kill her son and her sister, Violet is forced to follow the increasingly malicious instructions.

Now, when I first heard that synopsis, I honestly thought it sounded pretty silly. I mean, life-threatening AirDrops? That sounds more like the premise of an SNL sketch than a full-length feature film, doesn’t it? So when I saw that Drop was getting pretty good reviews, I was genuinely surprised. 

But maybe I shouldn’t have been since director Christopher Landon seems to excel at making horror films that feature a fun and humous tone. And while I may not have seen Freaky or Happy Death Day myself, I’ve heard nothing but good things about either of those movies. 

So what did I think about this film? Well… I thought it was okay. 

The AirDrop premise did make for an interesting story, but that idea was definitely spread too thin to make for a satisfying full-length narrative. So the screenwriters try to compensate by making Violet a victim of domestic abuse. Meaning that, on top of exploring themes of digital dependency and the dangers of modern technology, Drop also tries to say something about domestic violence. Which does, conceptually, sound interesting, but I’m not really sure if these themes actually work well together. This is a silly little movie about evil AirDrops, after all. It’s silly. It’s playful. It’s intentionally unserious. So including serious themes about domestic abuse felt rather out of place here. 

Which is ironic, because Violet being a DV survivor is the only thing that I remember about her character. Meaning that, if the movie didn’t include flashbacks to her abusive trauma, I think Violet’s characterization would be thinner than it already is. 

Meghann Fahy does a fine job of playing Violet; it’s just unfortunate that the script didn’t really do her character justice. And the same can be said for the rest of the cast as well. Everyone delivers a perfectly fine performance here; I just couldn’t tell you anything about their characters. 

All I can really tell you is that this movie is outlandishly cartoonish. I mean, certain sequences were admittedly entertaining, but most of them were definitely too silly and convoluted for my own personal taste. 

But while I didn’t enjoy this movie as much as other people seemed to, I’m glad that Landon got the chance to direct another original mid-budget film. Sure, it’s a shame that his version of Scream 7 fell apart - especially since his style does seem to be a perfect match for the Scream franchise - but I think Landon has done a great job of elevating the horror genre with his original mid-budget films. 

Drop may not be my personal cup of tea, but I’m glad that audiences decided to support it. Original projects should be supported. And since this one was praised by critics and audiences alike, I have no doubt that Landon will go to on to helm an original feature that I do enjoy in the future. Because he’s proven himself to be a good director with solid sensibilities. 

So, even though the film didn’t work for me personally, I can’t deny that Drop would still get a mild recommendation from me.