Drop rises in suspense genre

Drop may drop the ball when it comes to total credibility but it plays the thriller game well enough to provide mindless entertainment. Screenwriters Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach take a spin on stories like the movies Phone Booth, Carry On and a few others  use featuring main character trapped in one place and threatened by an unseen killer. Technology means the phone Airdrop app casts the threats, adding tension since the messages come from someone within 50 feet of the story’s heroine. Mehgann Fahey of White Lotus takes center stage as she goes out on a first date after her husband’s death. Checking the status of her at-home son, she discovers Airdrop messages saying someone will kill the boy if she doesn’t do the same to her date, played by hunky Brandon Sklenar of It Ends With Us and 1923. The two rate as quite a bit more gorgeous than most online matchup sites provide but nonetheless experience a Date from Hell despite their plans for a fancy dinner at an upscale Chicago restaurant. Director Christopher Landon continues the knack for suspense he demonstrated in Happy Death Day, blending in humor from characters like a waiter showing off his acting skills. Landon works well with supporting players, creating suspense about which one keeps dropping those threatening messages. The director also moves well within the restrictions of one basic setting, nodding his hand to an Alfred Hitchcock Rear Window gimmick along with Rope, which takes place in real time.  Adding in a couple of satisfactory jump out of your seat moments, Drop rises to respectable levels of thriller fun.