the drop

The Drop, directed by Christopher Landon, premiered April 11, 2025, and stars Meghann Fahy as Violet Gates, a widowed therapist and single mom raising her son Toby (Jacob Robinson) in Chicago. Years after surviving a brutal attack by her ex, Violet is slowly rebuilding her life and finally agrees to meet Henry (Brandon Sklenar), a man she’s been talking to online for months.

What starts as an awkward first date quickly spirals into a psychological game. Violet begins receiving airdropped memes that escalate into threatening messages, forcing her into a series of crimes to protect her son and her sister, Jen (Violett Beane), who’s babysitting him. The setting is contained—a bustling restaurant—but the stakes keep rising. We follow Violet in real time as she tries to remain calm, make sense of her surroundings, and figure out who’s behind the threats and why.

The film leans into Violet’s trauma, connecting the unfolding chaos to her past, until it doesn’t. In the end, it turns out this whole ordeal had nothing to do with her. She wasn’t targeted for any personal reason. She just happened to be dating a man with secrets.

That twist could’ve worked, but the middle of the film drags. It becomes a slow, stale game of Clue, padded with forgettable characters and uneven pacing. It eventually kicks back into gear with a chaotic final act and a twist that rewrites what we thought this was all about. The best part of the lull is an eccentric waiter who lightens the mood just enough to keep things going.

The Drop isn’t about jump scares. It’s about how long a person can stay calm while the ground shifts under them. But by the time we reach the end, the weight of Violet’s trauma is replaced with someone else’s mystery. The story stops is about her overcoming fears but to what end?—and that’s where it lost me.

Two stars from me on Letterboxd. But if you’re craving a spring thriller and want to judge for yourself, catch The Drop in theaters.