Filmmaker Christopher Landon has played a significant role in establishing Blumhouse as a household name in horror. He is, of course, most famous for writing and directing the two beloved Happy Death Day movies and 2020’s Freaky. However, his history with famed producer Jason Blum goes much further back, having written five of the seven films in the Paranormal Activity franchise. His resume outside Blumhouse is just as impressive, having recently co-written this year’s early breakout horror hit Heart Eyes. With his latest Blumhouse production, Drop (2025), Landon steps out of his wheelhouse into the realm of the cyber thriller. Yes, the subgenre allows frightening visuals and nail-biting tension, but all other safe horror tropes are out the window.
Audiences follow Violet (Meghann Fahy), a single mother and survivor of domestic abuse who has channeled her experience and trauma into helping other survivors as a professional counselor. When she finally schedules a first date with Henry (Brandon Sklenar) — a promising and exceptionally handsome bachelor whom she’s been chatting online with for months — Violet is reluctant to follow her feelings and is tempted to stay home with her precious young son, Toby (Jacob Robinson). Yet, with the help of her supportive younger sister, Jen (Violett Beane), on babysitter duty, Violet takes the leap of faith and puts herself back into the world. Little does she know that she’s about to enter the most terrifying night of her life.
Violet and Henry immediately hit it off in person; their naturally awkward yet cute interactions reinforce that she made the right decision to go out. However, their fancy dinner date turns for the worst when she starts receiving puzzling airdrops on her phone via the untraceable “digiDROP” service. It starts off as harmless memes, as anyone would get airdropped on their phone in a large public space. The drops rapidly get more and more unsettling, though. From the mysterious sender toying with Violet’s date to then telling her to check her house cameras, leading to the bone-chilling reveal that a masked man has taken her sister and son hostage, once Drop hits the accelerator, it never slows down.
Courtesy of Universal
Through a series of aggressively demanding airdrops, Violet is forced to pretend like everything is okay and act as a pawn in a twisted game she fell into by chance. She must do what is told in these horrifying messages without being caught, or else her family will die before she can even get up from her seat. Mostly taking place in a single location, Drop hones in on the caged anxiety and pressure suffocating Violet by keeping her mainly seated at the table of her dinner date, getting up only when the airdrops instruct her to do so. This is already one hell of a hook for a thriller, but the added digital element further raises the stakes.
The digital element of Drop could have easily broken the movie, even with its thrilling setup. Director Christopher Landon wisely steers away from simply cutting back and forth to the airdrop messages on Violet’s phone. While they do begin that way, the drops soon take a more imposing form, being visualized in huge digitzed texts that reflect all over Violet’s surroundings. Far more interesting than a simple text bubble, the sinister airdrop messages build a personality for the unknown villain at hand, thanks to how visually interactive they are with the restaurant’s chic environment and its many colorful guests. This stylistic choice isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, though it keeps Drop moving at a breezy pace with palpable energy.
Christopher Landon does an excellent job establishing the playing field. The majority of Drop takes place in the elegant circular dining room of Palate, a luxurious high-rise restaurant in downtown Chicago with a skyline view that’s to die for (quite literally). A series of seemingly harmless run-ins upon Violet’s early arrival to her date soon grow more suspicious. Did she accidentally bump into that nice random guy, or was it an orchestrated move by her unseen foe? Also, why is that same guy here alone? Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach’s script establishes early on that digiDROPS can only be sent within 50 feet proximity, meaning that whoever is running this cruel game is actually inside the restaurant with Violet.
While it may seem predictable at first, the mystery at the core of Drop proves to be much more clever. The audience learns new tidbits about Violet and Henry as they do, asking each other all the cheeky questions that come from a first date. It’s a smart framing device that gives Meghann Fahy (HBO’s The White Lotus) and Brandon Sklenar (Paramount’s 1923) plenty of fun material to work with. Moreover, it keeps the viewers guessing about the supporting cast, each with a different role on the playing board. From the hilariously cheerful waiter Matt (Jeffery Self) to the obnoxious piano player Phil (Ed Weeks) to the kind bartender Cara (Gabrielle Ryan), everyone at one point is a suspect.
The one part where Drop skews towards being a more conventional thriller is in its ending. Similar to M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach’s screenplay makes the decision to leave its single-location setting in the third act. Admittedly, it’s not as drastic as the hardcore pivot seen in Trap — to the point where it will alienate moviegoers. But at this point in the story, the titular airdrop hook is, well, dropped in favor of an ending that’s common for thrillers. Christopher Landon and his cinematographer, Marc Spicer (Escape Room, Furious 7), keep the energy flowing with some really kinetic camerawork. Still, the thought of the film staying slightly longer in the lavish restaurant is more exciting.
Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar anchor Drop with their radiating, natural chemistry, making this killer concept feel all the more realistic and truly scary at times. Under Christopher Landon’s direction, the duo leads a cunning yet still highly accessible studio thriller. In other words, another low-budget surefire hit from Blumhouse. Despite a somewhat unimaginative ending, the innovative thrills that Drop earns will make it stand out from Landon’s beloved filmography. The director’s versatility is on full display, cementing him as one of the most successful modern proponents of original genre storytelling (not just horror-comedies like he’s most well-known for). The fact that Landon has managed to do so in the studio system is a miracle in and of itself.
Drop premiered at the 2025 SXSW Film & TV Festival and is hitting theaters on April 11!
Release Date: April 11, 2025.
Directed by Christopher Landon.
Written by Jillian Jacobs & Chris Roach.
Produced by Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, & Cameron Fuller.
Executive Producers: Macdara Kelleher, Sam Lerner, & Ron Lynch.
Main Cast: Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Gabrielle Ryan, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks, & Travis Nelson.
Cinematographer: Marc Spicer.
Composer: Bear McCreary.
Production Companies: Blumhouse Productions, Platinum Dunes, & Wild Atlantic Pictures.
Distributor: Universal Pictures.
Runtime: 100 minutes.
Rated PG-13.
