Christopher Landon, the director behind horror hits Freaky and Happy Death Day, is helming a new technologically-tinged thriller that puts a deadly spin on modern dating. The first trailer for Drop reveals Emmy nominee Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus) as a widow forced into a terrifying game when anonymous messages threaten her children’s lives unless she kills her current date. And just like that, the movie’s premise promises to blend contemporary anxieties about technology with classic thriller elements. Produced by genre powerhouse Jason Blum and action mogul Michael Bay, Drop marks Landon’s return to theatrical releases following 2023’s Netflix ghost story We Have a Ghost.
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Drop’s trailer showcases Fahy as Violet, a single mother window venturing back into dating, only to have her evening turn deadly when mysterious AirDrop messages appear on her phone. Her date, played by Brandon Sklenar (1923), becomes both a potential victim and suspect as the technological terror escalates. The cast also includes Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, and Ed Weeks, while Truth or Dare writers Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach sign the script. The project brings together an impressive producing team, including Jason Blum’s Blumhouse, the producer behind hits such as Five Nights at Freddy’s and M3GAN, alongside Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes banner, known for A Quiet Place and The Purge horror franchises.
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Drop represents a significant shift for Landon, who departed the troubled Scream VII production in December 2023. The filmmaker took to social media then, describing the experience as “a dream job that turned into a nightmare.” The silver lining is that leaving Scream VIII allowed Langon to work on Drop, which appears to blend his proven ability to create tense horror scenarios with timely commentary on digital-age anxieties, a combination that has served him well throughout his career.
Christopher Landon’s Evolution Through Modern Horror
Landon’s journey through the horror genre begins as a screenwriter. He first made his mark with 2007’s Disturbia, a modern technological update of Hitchcock’s Rear Window that was both a critical and commercial success. It grossed over $118 million worldwide and earned praise for its fresh take on surveillance paranoia. Langon also served as a writer on multiple entries in the Paranormal Activity franchise before making his directorial debut with 2014’s Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones.
The filmmaker truly came into his own with 2017’s Happy Death Day, a clever fusion of slasher films and time-loop narratives that starred Jessica Rothe as a college student forced to relive her murder repeatedly. It proved a major commercial success, grossing over $125 million worldwide against a modest $4.8 million budget. The 2019 sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, took an even more ambitious approach by incorporating science fiction elements, though its $64 million worldwide gross represented a significant drop from its predecessor. Nevertheless, Happy Death Death has kept a strong cult following, with Landon currently developing a third installment.
2020’s Freaky further cemented Landon’s reputation for genre hybridization, combining the body-swap comedy format with slasher horror. Starring Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton, the film earned strong reviews for its creative premise and execution, with critics particularly praising Vaughn’s committed performance as a teenage girl trapped in a serial killer’s body. However, its theatrical release was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting its box office potential despite positive word-of-mouth. Drop will give Landon the opportunity to win big at the box office again, especially since the filmmaker is on his turf of digital nightmares.
Drop will be available on April 11, 2025.
