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. (from IMDB)

The pyschological thriller is certainly an acquired taste. And like most genres, they often have a formula. I tend to enjoy psych thrillers from time to time, but it is hardly my go-to genre. Many times, pyschological thrillers tend to border on horror, and that's usually what has me sit the movie out. The Prestige, Red Eye and Source Code would make my list for standout pysch thrillers, and Drop is probably most akin to Red Eye, in style, of those three. In fact, while watching Drop, the movie very much felt like a mix between Red Eye and Non-Stop with that "whodunnit?" mystery approach. In Drop, Violet is a widowed single mom who has a history of domestic abuse from her late husband. When she takes a chance on dating again, she meets a photographer named Henry, who she's only chatted with through a dating app, for an upscale dinner at the top of a high rise. Upon arriving at the restaurant, she starts getting mysterious air "drop" messages to her phone that start out playful but suddenly turn menacing. Before long, she finds her young son and babysitting sister being threatened if she doesn't play the unknown dropper's sick little games. The White Lotus's Meghann Fahy takes the lead as Violet, with her unsuspecting date being played by 1923's Brandon Skelnar.

Drop gets the job done as a pyschological thriller, but it definitely feels like a lower budget entry into the genre. You feel for Violet pretty quickly as the single mother is just trying to move on with her life when she fall victim to a seemingly no-win circumstance. I haven't seen The White Lotus, so Fahy is a new face to me, but I thought she did quite well here as the lead. Skelnar is great as Henry, too, and the pair have solid chemistry together on screen. It's a downright miracle that Henry lasts as long as he does with his nightmare date, though, as it seems like he should have bailed out way before it gets as bonkers as it does. I haven't seen a whole lot of movies cut from this particular cloth, but the movie feels like it follows a lot of the same beats as 2005's Red Eye. In that film, Cillian Murphy is the antagonist for Rachel McAdam's character (who also had a previous violent encounter in the past), so we see who is pulling the strings the entire time. But, like in the film Non-Stop or Source Code, the main character is trying to sift through a finite number of suspects around them to find out who's behind the threat. Mash those two ideas together and you have Drop. (The ending to Drop is also super similar to Red Eye, too, which takes away from the impact that the big finale was going for.)

Almost the entire movie takes place in the restaurant, as it follows Violet through this harrowing experience. It keeps things tense and claustrophobic, too, as you feel her world closing in. The cinematography is sometimes really nice - and noticeably so, but not always enough to elevate the movie. It's not an original concept, but they used the visual tool of showing the villain's texts to Violet as large words displayed in more dynamic and dramatic ways on the screen. I suppose there are only so many unique ways to display a text-message conversation in engaging ways on screen, but Drop does a nice job with it.

Still, something about Drop keeps it from getting any better than average or just okay. Maybe its Christopher Landon's directorial approach. Maybe it's a lack of genuine star power (and Fahy doesn't have enough of a "presence" on screen). Maybe it's just that it doesn't feel all that believable. Maybe it's the script. Maybe it doesn't feel all that fresh of a story. Maybe it's Violett Beane's distractingly tragic haircut. Or maybe it's a little of all of that? Don't get me wrong; Drop does work. But if you've ever seen a movie that feels like it was decent, but missing something - even if you couldn't place your finger on exactly what that might be -- then you'll know what I mean. Let's put it this way; Drop has the thrills and mystery to get you through to the end credits, but I'm not sure it has that distinguishing quality that would warrant watching it again (at least anytime soon).

The content for Drop is pretty common for the genre. I was actually pretty surprised how infrequent profanity was at first, but the movie does sneak in an "F" word from Violet, as well as several other colorful words, before the film's end. The opening scene shows a bloodied Violet crawling across the floor as her husband kicks her and threatens her with a gun. He then gives her the gun and encourages her to use it on him. It's an explosive way to open the movie for sure, and establishes that she's no stranger to life-threatening situations. Most of the movie is more brooding than anything, but the finale breaks out into a pretty violent series of encounters - some even shockingly so - that turns it into the more almost-horror part of the psych thriller. This violence includes a person being stabbed in the back unexpectedly (there's no blood shown), a person being shot in the abdomen (we see some blood on their clothes), a person falling from pretty high up and then crashing onto something on the ground (to their death, but we don't see their impact in detail), a person being shot (with a little blood), some reckless driving through city streets, a person being stabbed in the leg with a shard of glass (with some blood), another being stabbed with a knife (and we see them pull it out), and a person being shot multiple times. There's also talk of murdering someone, poisoning them, and domestic violence. The life of a toddler is also threatened throughout the film. There isn't really any significant sexual content, but Violet wears a dress that dips pretty low in the front through most of the movie, and there are a couple verbal references, like Violet's sister telling her she needs to get "la*d."

Drop probably won't find its name mentioned among the best of 2025, but it should scratch the itch for any fans of the genre looking for a few thrills. Thematically, it may be sensitive to some viewers, particularly in regards to domestic abuse, but those looking for a relatively unassuming little mystery thriller might like what Drop has to offer.

Drop is available now at digital retailers. It comes with a feature-length commentary and the following featurettes:

• A Recipe for Thrills: Making Drop (6:45)
• A Palate for Panic (4:33)
• Killer Chemistry (3:38)
• Feature Commentary with director Christopher Landon (1:35:27)