90 Minutes of Pure Anxiety
Summary
Drop is more of a thriller rather than an action movie, but there is still plenty of tension and the final 20 minutes are an exciting race against time. This is a fun time and it looks flawless on 4K even if the special features aren’t the greatest.
Plot: A widowed mother’s first date in years takes a terrifying turn when she’s bombarded with anonymous threatening messages on her phone during their upscale dinner, leaving her questioning if her charming date is behind the harassment.
Review: I wanted to see Drop in theatres, but I just didn’t have the time, so I picked up the 4K and watched it over the weekend. Blumhouse can be hit or miss with their movies but thankfully Drop is definitely a hit as it feels like a throwback to classic Hitchcockian thrillers.
It packs in plenty of tension in its brisk 90-minute runtime and I realized by the time we reached the end credits I hadn’t touched my snacks or drink.
Meghann Fahy plays our lead Violet, a widow who escaped an abusive relationship and has been trying to pick up the pieces of her life since with her son, Toby. She agrees to go on a date with nice guy Henry (Brandon Sklenar) to a fancy restaurant, but it doesn’t take long for Violet to get messages from a stranger threatening her son if she doesn’t follow their instructions. What ensues is 90 minutes of pure anxiety as we wonder who it is and how Violet will save her son.
Violet is immediately sympathetic, and we are right behind her the whole time; the camera work and lighting amplify her situation and as the runtime progresses the angles change make it more unsettling. There is a great 7 minute behind the scenes featurette on this 4K where the director explains changing the angles and using Hitchcock and 90’s thrillers as a template. It works as this was a really entertaining movie and even though I know the outcome I likely would watch this again as it’s slicky made.
As this is a thriller rather than an action movie there aren’t major set-pieces, but there is a shoot-out at the end and the last 20 minutes are a race against time as Violet tries to save Toby.
Special features on the 4K Include:
4K UHD & Blu-ray
- Audio Commentary with Christopher Landon
- A Recipe for Thrills: Making Drop (HD 6:43)
- A Palate for Panic (HD 4:32)
- Killer Chemistry (HD 3:36)
There isn’t anything amazing here, but thankfully the film is a good time, and it looks and sounds fantastic.
Overall, Drop is an engaging thriller with a story that didn’t quite go the way I expected and made for a nail-biting 90 minutes. The special features aren’t amazing, but there’s enough here to make this worth adding to your collection.