When surrounded by Hollywood’s penchant for sequels, prequels, spin-offs, reboots, and adaptations, it is sometimes nice to come across an original, self-contained feature with an interesting plot, decent performances, and fresh ideas. Drop, which is now available on physical media in Australia, is quite the tonic. It is not going to win awards, change your life, or launch its own shared cinematic universe, but it is solidly entertaining. These days I feel that counts for a lot.

Violet (Meghann Fahy) is a single mother and widow going on her first date in years. Within minutes of arriving at the appointed restaurant, however, she starts receiving threatening messages on her smartphone. Somebody is somehow watching her every move, is holding her sister and child hostage, and is threatening to kill them if Violet does not immediately murder her date: charming photographer Henry (Brandon Sklenar).

This is effectively a single-room movie, despite occasional forays back to Violet’s house and family. It is a tricky model to get right, since it forces the entire weight of the narrative onto a small group of characters. The task demanded of Violet can only be delayed or complicated so many times before it might seem dragged out or tiresome. Credit then to writers Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach, who manage to carefully balance the line between building suspense and stalling the story for an engaging 95 minutes. Praise is also due to director Christopher Landon, whose knowing and smart horror films Happy Death Day (2017) and Freaky (2020) had already made him a talent worth following. Here he adapts to pure thriller mode, and his inventive, suspenseful handling of the material is excellent.

Stars Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar are both easy on the eye and dramatically effective. She comes to the film from a well-liked turn in streaming series The White Lotus; he from Yellowstone prequel 1923. I can see both of them going far, and it is refreshing to see relatively new talent receiving a showcase here. A supporting cast of suspected criminal masterminds work well, including Gabrielle Ryan, Ed Weeks, Reed Diamond, and Travis Nelson. The mystery over who Violet’s mystery assailant may be is hardly challenging, but Landon’s energetic direction shifts the focus anyway from being a mystery to being a thrill ride. It is best to simply go along with the flow.

Violet’s back story carries a pretty heavy seam of domestic abuse and emotional trauma, which does threaten to encroach on the film’s otherwise superficial tone. It does not feel entirely inappropriate, but it does chafe slightly as the bulk of this very commercial movie is hardly set up to seriously address the issues that get raised. Its problems are lessened somewhat by the strong, empowered way the film handles Violet’s actions and choices. She is a reasonably strong central character, and Fahy has plenty of room to express those strengths.

With Hollywood bifurcated between gargantuan franchise pieces and artful independents, I can always find room for these kinds of modest-but-glossy straightforward genre works. Their pure purpose is to entertain a mass audience, and following the old-fashion Howard Hawks measure of good cinema – three good scenes, no bad ones – Drop is more than worth checking out on a Friday or Saturday night.