Drop is the sort of those high-concept, utterly ridiculous thrillers they used to make a lot of in the 1990s. It is all kinds of dumb but still a lot of fun to watch.

Violet Gates (Meghann Fahy) is just beginning to get over the death of her abusive husband.  Oh, she’s not sad he’s dead, for he was an awful piece of…but she survived years of abuse and nearly let him kill her baby boy, and that’s hard to get over.  Even if you are a therapist.

She’s been talking to a handsome photographer named Henry (Brandon Sklenar) through one of those online dating apps, and tonight she’s finally agreed to meet him face-to-face for a dinner date at one of those fancy restaurants that sits atop a skyscraper, giving panoramic views of Chicago.

She leaves her sister June (Violett Beane) in charge of the boy (and her wardrobe) and nervously goes on the date. Before they can even order hors d’oeuvres, she starts receiving these strange airdropped digital messages. At first they are just sort of annoying, and the couple play a little game as to who it could be, but soon enough they become threatening. 

Look at the video footage from her at-home security cameras, it says. They show a masked man in her home.  Do what I say, or your family will be killed, it says. Tell no one what is happening. Do not call the cops.  Do not let your dinner date leave.

The tormentor seems to know everything she is doing.  He’s somehow got access to the restaurant’s internal camera system.  He’s also placed cameras inside the bathroom and next to her table. He’s cloned her phone.

I won’t spoil exactly what he asks her to do except that it has to do with destroying some evidence and causing harm to someone.  It makes very little sense as it is a dumb way to get what they want, but you just have to roll with it.

Director Christopher Landon keeps the tension high, and writers Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach find clever ways for Violet to solve her problem. Because those digital drops have to be sent from someone close they have a lot of fun hinting it might be this person or that one. I guessed correctly pretty quickly so it isn’t really that hard to figure out. It ends in a climactic battle that’s all sort of ridiculous, but I had a good time with it.

Landon directed both Happy Death Day films and Freaky, and I wish he’d leaned a little more heavily into the ridiculousness of this situation and made it a little funnier. But it’s still an entertaining little film. Like I said, they used to make this sort of film a lot in the 1990s, and I kind of miss them. Sometimes you want something ridiculous and not so serious.

Small housekeeping note.  We are in May, and that means we’re geared up for mysteries. Crime stories often blend mystery, thriller, and horror together, but it is always difficult to find one that leans that mix a little more toward horror for Friday nights.  I thought this one would do the trick, but it really is much more of a thriller than a horror film, but it is late and this is what you get.