Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Drop (2025)
After seeing director Christopher Landon’s Drop, viewers should seek out the underrated 2005 thriller Red Eye, a Wes Craven movie that inspired the tense psychological horror. Drop is a tense, thrilling horror by Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon. Like that earlier hit, Drop blends horror tropes with familiar rom-com conventions in its nerve-shredding story of a widow who goes on her first date in years with a charming pH๏τographer at a high-end restaurant.
The catch is that some anonymous prankster starts sending her drops and, before long, this unseen villain reveals that they have a masked gunman in the heroine’s house. From this point until Drop’s twist ending, Meghann Fahy’s heroine Violet is put through a grueling ordeal as she must fight to save her son by following this unseen villain’s orders, all while avoiding detection by her unᴀssuming date. Before long, the villain lands Violet with an ultimatum. Either she poisons her date’s drink, or her son will die.
Drop Was Inspired By Wes Craven’s Red Eye From 2005
Drop Director Christopher Landon Credited The Underrated Horror Movie
Although there are a few unanswered questions after Drop’s ending, few viewers will care. Landon’s thriller is too immersive for viewers to get invested in plot holes, as Fahy’s dazzling performance takes viewers on a thrill ride through the first date from hell. Although there are few thrillers constructed like Drop, with its unlikely blend of rom-com humor and tense, violent thrills, Landon cited 2005’s underrated Wes Craven movie Red Eye as a major influence on Drop.
Red Eye benefits from Craven’s typically skilled direction, but it is the two central turns from McAdams and Murphy that truly bring the twisted premise to life.
This early Cillian Murphy vehicle saw the future Oscar winner play Jackson Ripner, a charismatic airline pᴀssenger who ends up seated beside Rachel McAdams’ sweet, unᴀssuming heroine. Unfortunately for her, Ripner soon reveals he’s really a dangerous criminal, and she will need to follow his every whispered instruction if she wants to survive the flight. This underrated 2005 thriller benefits from Craven’s typically skilled direction, but it is the two central turns from McAdams and Murphy that truly bring the twisted premise to life.
Why Fans Of Christopher Landon’s Drop Should Check Out Red Eye
Drop And Red Eye Share Tense, Unpredictable Horror Thriller Plots
On IndieWire’s “Filmmaker’s Toolkit” podcast, Landon noted that directing Drop felt like kismet after his more direct Wes Craven homage fell through. Originally, Landon was tapped to direct Scream 7 in late 2023 with Jenna Ortega and Melissa Barrera in the slasher sequel’s lead roles. Barrera was fired from that project for voicing her political opinion on social media and Ortega exited soon after, leading Landon to finally leave Scream 7 a month later. Per Landon, Drop felt like it was “The Wes movie I was supposed to make,” after Scream’s sequel fell apart.
While a version of Scream 7 without Ortega’s Tara and Barrera’s Sam will arrive in 2026, the project is now being directed by Kevin Williamson. Drop’s critical and commercial success seemingly proves that Landon chose the right project, with the movie proving a perfect tribute to Craven’s underrated psychological thriller two decades after Red Eye’s original release. Viewers who enjoy Drop should seek out Red Eye, as the influence of Wes Craven’s lone location thriller is palpable throughout Christopher Landon’s successful horror rom-com hybrid.
Source: “Filmmaker’s Toolkit” podcast (via IndieWire)
