A scene from ‘Drop’

Review: ‘Drop’ is a mystery wrapped in distractions

‘Drop’ is a technological thriller in which a woman receives threatening texts while on a fancy dinner date.

Technology has connected people in unimaginable ways. Now, you can do almost anything without directly interacting with another person — an agoraphobe’s dream, but not everyone’s ideal. Nonetheless, it allows loved ones to stay in touch over long distances and singles to find love without relying on the bar scene or friends with bad taste. But it also opens people up to abuse and varying types of danger, including financial fraud and cyber stalking. The threats don’t outweigh the benefits, but it does require a level of caution that should be taken yet often isn’t. Unsurprisingly, technology-based horror is becoming an increasingly popular subgenre and its latest entry is Drop.

Violet (Meghann Fahy) is a single mom and therapist for victims of domestic abuse. Having devoted the past few years to raising her son (Jacob Robinson), she’s finally ready to get back out there and tonight is her first date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar). A man, her babysitting sister (Violett Beane) points out, who has been incredibly patient over the last three months and deserves her undivided attention. However, as Violet waits for Henry to arrive, someone else at the restaurant begins dropping strange memes to her phone. When she chooses to ignore them, the messages become threatening, turning this into a date neither of them will ever forget.

While a lot of technology is designed to connect us with people we know, it’s frightening how easily it opens users up to complete strangers. In this scenario, anyone within 50 ft is a suspect, from the annoying improv actor moonlighting as a waiter (Jeffery Self) to anyone in the room using a smartphone — which is almost everyone. At first, Violet is intrigued to play detective, but when the texts grow more serious, finding the sender becomes the difference between life and death. Before long, the anonymous devil emoji outlines the rules of their little game and is assigning Violet tasks that she must complete or face the consequences.

It’s exciting to play whodunnit alongside Violet, but it starts to feel a little drawn out — especially as she repeatedly returns to the same memory of her former husband, only to reveal a little more about what really happened vs. what everyone assumes happened. In addition, the technique of darkening Violet’s surroundings so only she’s spotlighted, emphasising her loneliness and desperation, is effective the first couple of times, but it eventually becomes another tired effect elongating the movie.

Consequently, the character interactions are captivating — more so the concerned bartender (Gabrielle Ryan) and smarmy piano player (Ed Weeks) than the flamboyant waiter who grows increasingly grating — and Henry is a saint for not making a straight line to the exit on several occasions, but the filler in between feels like it’s getting in the way of a higher intensity narrative. This is especially unfortunate since director Christopher Landon’s prior thrillers were more thoroughly entertaining.

Director: Christopher Landon
Starring: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar and Violett Beane

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