CRITICS ARE CALLING DROP “WILDLY ENTERTAINING! AN EDGE OF YOUR SEAT THRILLER WITH NONSTOP CLEVER TWISTS AND TURNS.” FROM PRODUCERS OF M3GAN, PRODUCERS OF A QUIET PLACE AND THE DIRECTOR OF HAPPY DEATH DAY.
ONLY IN THEATERS APRIL 11TH. THIS SPRING, EVERYONE’S A SUSPECT.
First dates are nerve-wracking enough. Going on a first date while an unnamed, unseen troll pings you personal memes that escalate from annoying to homicidal? Blood-chilling.
Director Christopher Landon returns to the thriller genre with the playful, keep-you-guessing intensity he perfected in the Happy Death Day films with this of-the-moment whodunnit where everyone in the vicinity is a suspect . . . or victim. Drop is jointly produced by blockbuster genre houses Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes.
Emmy nominee Meghann Fahy, breakout star of White Lotus and The Perfect Couple, plays Violet, a widowed mother on her first date in years, who arrives at an upscale restaurant where she is relieved that her date, Henry (It Ends with Us’ Brandon Sklenar) is more charming and handsome than she expected. But their chemistry begins to curdle as Violet begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.
She is instructed to tell nobody and follow instructions or the hooded figure she sees on her home security cameras will kill Violet’s young son and babysitting sister. Violet must do exactly as directed or everyone she loves will die. Her unseen tormentor’s final directive? Kill Henry.
The film also stars Violett Beane (Truth or Dare) and newcomer Jacob Robinson as Violet’s sister and son; with Reed Diamond (Moneyball), Gabrielle Ryan (Power Book IV: Force), Jeffery Self (Mack & Rita), Ed Weeks (The Mindy Project) and Travis Nelson (The Lake) as the restaurant’s staff and diners.
Drop is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Landon, the writer-director of last year’s We Have a Ghost and the zeitgeist-rattling Blumhouse hits Freaky, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and the Happy Death Day films. The film is written by Jillian Jacobs & Chris Roach, writers of Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare and Fantasy Island.
The film is produced by Jason Blum (Five Nights at Freddy’s, M3GAN) for Blumhouse and by Michael Bay (Transformers films, A Quiet Place franchise), Brad Fuller (A Quiet Place films, The Purge franchise) and Cameron Fuller (The Astronaut) for Platinum Dunes. The executive producer is Sam Lerner.
Meghann Fahy as Violet in Drop, directed by Christopher Landon.
From Christopher Landon, the mind behind Happy Death Day and Freaky, comes a chilling new take on modern dating horrors. Emmy-nominee Meghann Fahy (White Lotus, The Perfect Couple) stars as Violet, a widow whose return to the dating scene spirals into nightmare territory when anonymous threats start lighting up her phone. Her mission? Kill her dreamy dinner date Henry (Brandon Sklenar, It Ends with Us) – or her family pays the price.
DROP will make its world premiere at SXSW on Monday, March 10, 2025, at 9:00 PM at Austin’s historic Paramount Theater.
DROP is written by Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach (Truth or Dare, Fantasy Island) and produced by Michael Bay (Transformers films, A Quiet Place franchise), Brad Fuller (A Quiet Place films, The Purge franchise) and Cameron Fuller (the upcoming Flycatcher and The Astronaut) for Platinum Dunes.
Dropping on Netflix February 24th, 2023 is Director and Writer Christopher Landon’s comedy WE HAVE A GHOST.
The film stars David Harbour, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, Tig Notaro, Erica Ash, Jennifer Coolidge, Anthony Mackie, Faith Ford, Niles Fitch, Isabella Russo, Steve Coulter.
Finding a ghost named Ernest (David Harbour) haunting their new home turns Kevin’s family into overnight social media sensations. But when Kevin (Jahi Winston) and Ernest go rogue to investigate the mystery of Ernest’s past, they become a target of the CIA.
Landon has helmed Freaky (2020), Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones (2014), Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse (2015) and Happy Death Day films.
In time for Valentine’s Day comes HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U, a sequel to the 2017 horror/comedy HAPPY DEATH DAY. College student Tree (Jessica Rothe) is back for another day of repeated deaths, but this time it is someone else stuck in the loop of a repeated day. Nonetheless, it is still fierce sorority girl Tree, who went through this before, who must solve the mystery and stop the murderous loop.
Audiences don’t really have to have seen the original to follow the story in the sequel, as HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U provides a quick little recap of the first film, as Tree explains the situation to the new guy caught in the death day time loop. Briefly, in the first film, Tree keeps waking up on her birthday, in the dorm room of a guy she met at a party the night before but does not remember. The rude, self-centered Tree makes her way back to her sorority and goes through her day, only to be killed by someone in a demon baby mask (the college’s weird sports mascot) on the way to another party. But then, like in the Bill Murray comedy GROUNDHOG DAY, she wakes up again on the morning of her birthday and relives the day. The premise, of course, is that Tree has to solve her own murder and prevent it, to get to the next day.
This time the victim is Ryan (Phi Vu), the roommate of Carter (Israel Broussard), in whose dorm room Tree kept waking up in the first film. We quickly learn Ryan is part of a trio of students working on science project that caused his troubles as well as Tree’s. Naturally, the relentless Tree sets out the solve the mystery, with the help of Carter and Ryan.
HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U is placed firmly in the long genre tradition of horror comedy films, and seems aimed mostly at a younger audience with a taste for horror films as date movies. As a sequel, it is not as inventive as the first one but it is not bad either. As genre stuff, it does not offer much for more sophisticated audiences but for those looking for basic popcorn entertainment, it works well enough.
Christopher Landon directed both films, which are from Blumhouse, the studio that gave us GLASS, THE PURGE and GET OUT. While neither HAPPY DEATH DAY films are anywhere near the same league as GET OUT by any means, the first film was a hit and it was rather clever, recycling the idea behind GROUNDHOG DAY while playing with horror film tropes. The best twist was the sorority girl character at the center of it, who, instead of being a screaming victim, is a don’t-mess-with-me hellion.
There is plenty of death and violence in both films but not a lot of blood and gore, with even less in the sequel. HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U adds a new film reference to the GROUNDHOG DAY idea, mixing it with BACK TO THE FUTURE. With the help of Ryan and his nerdy science major friends, Tree time-travels back to her own death day to try to fix the problem, needing more than one trip. The time travel means some scenes from the original are repeated, but instead of re-shooting them from a new point of view, the sequel just lifts the scenes from the first film, both a clever idea and a cost-saving one.
Jessica Rothe reprises her role, and the cast of the first film returns as well, with new characters added. Rothe again does a nice job as the relentless Tree. Like the Bill Murray character, Rothe’s character goes from a jerk to a better person in the first film, and builds on that growth in the sequel, becoming even more resourceful. Broussard is likable again as Carter, with Phi Vu fine as Ryan, as are Suraj Sharma and Sarah Yarkin as his comically nerdy friends. Rachel Matthews is even more obnoxious as sorority president Danielle, Ruby Modine remains mysterious as Tree’s mismatched roommate Lori, and Charles Aitken is even ickier as Prof. Gregory.
For those looking for a scary/funny movie for Valentine’ Day date, HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U would do nicely. HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U opens Wednesday, Feb. 13, at multiple area theaters.
Jessica Rothe leads the returning cast of HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U, the follow-up to Blumhouse’s (Split, Get Out, The Purge series) surprise 2017 smash hit of riveting, repeating twists and comic turns. This time, our hero Tree Gelbman (Rothe) discovers that dying over and over was surprisingly easier than the dangers that lie ahead.
The first movie was very clever and a real crowd-pleaser. Seeing it with an audience on a Friday night was a hilarious good time and to watch Rothe’s character absolutely THROUGH with dying over and over again in this latest preview is a riot. I can’t wait for Valentine’s Day!
There are certain stereotypes and tropes that have existed in the horror genre for decades. In the 80s, the slasher genre made popular the idea of a masked killer stalking a group of teenagers. As often was the case, a “final girl” was left as the killer’s last victim, being forced to do battle and reveal to the audience who has been picking off her friends one by one.
Sure, it’s formulaic, but the concept spawned hundreds of films and continues to inspire modern filmmakers to put their own spin on the sub-genre. Powerhouse production company Blumhouse has hired Christopher Landon (PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES) to breathe life into their own clever take on the slasher film with HAPPY DEATH DAY. Instead of a group of kids each facing their individual demise, you have one girl standing in the place of them all. How, do you ask? It’s never fully explained, but Tree Gelbman (Jessica Rothe) ends each day being killed by a baby mask-wearing killer and then wakes up to face it over and over and over again. And before you say it… yes, the film is very much aware of the classic comedy that they are borrowing the concept from. This familiar structure works because the film plays around with slasher film motifs. Everyone who grew up with the sub-genre loves the staging of a good kill. While she may be living out the same day over and over again, Tree learns from each misstep which leads to a new and creative way for the killer to get her the next day. The deaths are fun without a focus on the blood and guts, even adding a tongue-in-cheek factor in some cases (an escape to the bedroom from a frat party takes a funny and disastrous turn).
Jessica Rothe’s character sort of embodies several female horror stereotypes all rolled into one, and I mean this in a good way. You have the bad girl that has a wild side, the comedic jester that farts and jokes with friends, and you even have the strong and determined final girl that outsmarts the killer, all packed into one character. She’s filled with gumption, but Rothe goes a little overboard with the delivery.
While the film embraces the nonsensical absurdity for two-thirds of its 96 min. duration, the last third amplifies it to parody-level theatrics. You almost expect the Mystery Science Theater 3000 hosts to pop in towards the end to riff on some of the nauseating moments, including one where our lead has a sequence of “self-discovery” moments. At that point though, the film had me mostly sold on its blend of self-aware and serious horror, even if the balance was a little uneven.
Many fans will be quick to point out that it’s not particularly scary. To that point, I would 100% agree. Sure, the mask is creepy – what 80s horror kid doesn’t love a good scary mask – however, the scariest element is the real-life horror insinuated by Tree questioning the men and women in her life. Like any good whodunnit, there’s always a question of who’s the killer. Director Christopher Landon emphasizes the personal players in her life. Despite his often pedestrian approach to staging the thrilling sequences, he does a fine job at putting the audience in her shoes. The threat is all around her and could be anyone in her life. So, while this specific paralyzing feeling might be creepy, horror fans might be more amused by the presence of “Death” instead of being actually afraid of it. HAPPY DEATH DAY is a film to moderately enjoy today, but not something that you will relive or remember tomorrow.
Overall score: 2.5 out of 5
HAPPY DEATH DAY opens in theaters Friday, October 13th
If you are uptight and faint of heart, SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE is not your movie. Still here? Ok, good. If you aren’t easily offended, and are looking for a laugh mixed with some jump scares, this movie is for you!
In SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, three life-long scouts team up with cocktail waitress after a zombie outbreak spreads through their town. They don’t have long to use their survival skills and try to make it out before it’s too late.
Sound like a familiar plot? Sure… but I promise that you haven’t quite seen a zombie movie like this. This movie is completely predictable, but fun! Director Christopher Landon combines the modern-day tale with elements of 80’s horror and adventure films. In other words, there are plenty of cheesy, raunchy moments… and yes, even boobs. I’m an old school, campy horror fan, so I found this movie to be funny. Some won’t. I guess you could say that this film is like blue cheese… it’s not for everyone!
Cast members Tye Sheridan, Joey Morgan, and Logan Miller work together extremely well. You can tell that they really got along, and they were believable as friends. Actress Sarah Dumont, on the other hand, was hit and miss. There were moments where her kick-ass, bad girl act really paid off, and moments where she fell really flat. She kind of has this flat, hard to read acting style going on to where I couldn’t tell if it was part of her character, or not. David Koecher is funny as usual, but he’s not in the film enough to be a huge influence. Cloris Leachman, on the other hand, wasn’t in the film enough, but really added the laughs for me! To have a legend do what she does in the film is incredibly ballsy, and it paid off!
One cool thing that Landon did in this film was use practical effects. This is always a big plus for me, because I think it really pays off in the end. It’s so easy for filmmakers to cop-out and use CGI, and the slightest mistake with it throws you out of the movie. With practical effects, the audience tends to be more forgiving. Plus, no one wants an animated zombie. Give me a real human splattered with blood and flesh wounds!
The jokes in this film are really going to upset some people, and make them cringe. There are plenty of crass, ‘I can’t believe they went there!’ moments. Even I made a few audible gasps in the theater. If you are easily offended, I’m going to tell you to just stay home right now. This movie is just going to piss you off. Sometimes we need a break from our PC society, and I commend Landon for having the balls to tell jokes with no apologies. I know critics are going to eat this film alive, but can’t we just go into a movie and take it for what it is? It’s not trying to be the next big Oscar contender… It’s just trying to have fun! Take it, or go rent FORREST GUMP.
In SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE, three scouts and lifelong friends join forces with one badass cocktail waitress to become the world’s most unlikely team of heroes. Recently, I sat down with director Christopher Landon to talk about the film. I have to add that he is an incredibly wonderful interview! I had a blast talking with him, as you will see below!
When their peaceful town is ravaged by a zombie invasion, three scouts will fight for the badge of a lifetime and put their scouting skills to the test to save mankind from the undead.
The first question I have to ask is how this movie come about?
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : How did this wack-a-doodle thing get made? [Laughs]
Yeah! It’s a lot of fun!
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : So, I just finished PARANORMAL ACTIVITY : THE MARKED ONES, which had a lot of comedy in the beginning of it. So, Paramount called me up and said ‘We have this script called SCOUTS vs. ZOMBIES, which was the original title, and I instantly thought ‘either this is going to be awesome, or really stupid,’ and it was both… and I was really happy about that. [Laughs] I read it, and I was like ‘this is a surprisingly sweet movie.’ It was written, at the time, as PG-PG13, and I was like ‘that’s a hat trick.’ I don’t know how you can make a zombie movie for kids. So, I went back to them and I said ‘You know what? I think this is cool. I think this could be really funny. I think it should be Rated R, and I think it should be gory, and I think it should be balls out crazy! I was surprised that they were like ‘OK! Go for it!’ When they said ‘Go for it!’ they really meant it. so in my dream bag of what I would want to see in this kind of movie… I got to pull all of that stuff out… and they were really supportive of that. It just, kind of, evolved. I think I wrote a couple of – I think I wrote two drafts – and then the next thing I knew we were off and making it. It was surprising too. I think that size of the movie is hard to get made right now. You’re either dealing with very small, Jason Blum style 5 million dollar movies, or your GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. There’s very little in between now, and so the fact that the studio was willing to make this movie was impressive. The fact that they were willing to make a movie with no real major stars was impressive, but also that they really supported me in my vision to make a movie that felt like THE GOONIES, and felt like GREMLINS… that was a throwback. I wanted to make an 80’s style movie. It was pretty cool.
It’s great that you mention GREMLINS and THE GOONIES because it does have that 80’s kind of feel. You have the friendship, but you also have the raunchy elements… you have the boobs!
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : The boobs are there! [Laughs] By the way, it’s funny because my friends all make fun of me because I’m gay, and they’re like ‘Why does the gay guy always have boobs in his movies?’ [Laughs] I’m like ‘I don’t know! They just keep popping up!’ It’s horror!
It’s horror! There should be boobs! [Laughs] It’s cool that you threw that stuff in, because a lot of horror today sort of misses the mark on the themes and patterns of 80’s films. What other influences did you have going into this?
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : My big influences, of course, was THE GOONIES, MONSTER SQUAD was there, but then there were echoes of SUPERBAD. That was something that I really loves, and felt like kind of had a place in this movie. Even, in a weird way, and this is the weirdest reference, but STAND BY ME. There was a tinge of that, and you’ll see that in the campfire scene. I really wanted to sell the idea of this friendship, and of these three guys, and the experience that they’re going through. I think it’s a very relatable thing… to be in high school, and to find yourself at a crossroads in your friendships, where you’re outgrowing a friendship, or you’re at least in the process of reevaluating a friendship because you want to trade up to things that don’t really matter, which is something that I talked about in the movie. So, I really wanted to capture it all in a very relatable story, but then still deliver the ridiculous headpieces, and the scares, and the fun, and all that kind of stuff.
When it comes to the comedy in this film, and how dirty it goes how did you find the balance between it and the horror, and was there anything that went too far that you couldn’t put into the movie?
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : Ok, oh man. I’m gonna get in trouble. Let’s see what we can print here. So, um… I … First of all, I always tend to follow the ‘South Park’ rule of comedy, which is that I don’t think that anything is sacred. I think that life is meant to be laughed at as much as possible. I have a gallows humor that I grew up with, so I don’t find anything particularly taboo. I never felt like I was personally crossing a line. I know that in terms of personal taste, for some, I have. There are moments in the movie… there’s one moment in the movie that tends to offend some people. I’m not going to say what it is, but that’s the one that kind of makes me… I find it kind of interesting because people are offended at this one particular scene, but then they’re not offended by other stuff, and I’m always like ‘That’s so weird to draw a line in the weirdest places.’ But, I wrote one scene that ended up not making it. I had to come up with a pretty quick replacement for it because the studio got cold feet. I will tell you what it is if you want to hear it. I’ll get in trouble for what it is, but I don’t care. [Laughs]
Of course I wanna hear it! [Laughs]
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : So, there’s a scene in the movie where out scouts encounter a homeless zombie, and they have a sing-a-long with the zombie. You saw the movie?
Yes. I saw it last night.
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : Ok. So, they do a sing-a long. The original version of that scene was, and this is why I was gonna go to hell… They’re walking down the street and they see a school bus off to the side of the road, and it turns out that it’s a short school bus… and an intellectually and developmentally disabled child comes off the bus, and they can’t figure out if he is a zombie, or it’s part of his disability. So, they are debating back and forth on if they should shoot him or not, and he keeps getting closer, and closer. It was hysterical! [Laughs] It was hysterical, but horribly mean and offensive. So, the studio…
That was NOT the direction that I thought you were going! [Laughs] #00:08:24.9#
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : So, they were like ‘We’ve been really cool about everything, This one is not ok with us!’, which was tough, because I knew it was going to be the funniest scene in the movie. It’s so wrong that it’s right. I know most of my audience would have been you… and they would have died laughing, but I would have gotten hate mail! It wasn’t even one of those ‘I can fight for it’ moments, it was the head of the studio calling me, saying ‘We won’t let you make the movie if you keep this scene.’
Oh, yeah! That was the line in the sand! [Laughs]
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : But it was really funny! [Laughs] It was a really good scene!
So, I’m guessing this won’t be on the bonus features either?
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : No. This will not be on the bonus features! I literally was trying to find a way to shoot both somehow without them knowing… like, I was gonna swap the cards out, and find the actor, and do the whole thing, but there was no time in the schedule, and it was literally one of those that if I got caught, I could get fired deals. So I was like ‘Fine. I won’t do it…’ It’s a really tough scene to watch for me, because while I’m so proud of that moment, and I think it plays really well, and it’s definitely quirky and funny, It always reminds me of the one that got away!
Wow! Where do we go from here in the interview? [Laughs] Cloris Leachman! Super excited about that! How did you convince her to do this? [Laughs]
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : She’s amazing! YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN was one of my all time favorite movies, so I’ve been a fan of hers ever since then. It was really just a call. It was a ‘Will you do this?’ and she said yes! I heard ‘Oh, she’s pretty out there! She’s really crazy, and fun to work with!’ but there is nothing that prepares you for this woman. She shows up. She’s a force of nature. Her first day on set, I was waiting by her trailer, because I wanted to be there when she arrived – she’s a legend, so you have to show your respect. So, I’m standing there with Logan, and she pulls up, and she’s already in character, and she’s clawing at the window like a zombie [laughs] looking at me. She gets out of the car, and the first thing she says to Logan is ‘I’m gonna eat your ass!’ [Laughs] I was like ‘You’re gonna be so much fun to work with!’ and she was! She was crazy, and she would tell the funniest stories! Every night, when we would wrap her, I would walk her to her car. We would do an arm in arm, and I would take her though set… and as I walked her through set she would literally go to every single crew member [whispers] ‘Goodnight’ [as she was flipping them off]… [Laughs] She’d flip everyone off! We had one night where we had a crowd of looky-lou people watching in the neighborhood… kids, and everyone… and when she came out, she flew two birds at them [laughs] and I was like ‘You’re a nutcase! I love you!’
That sounds amazing! [Laughs]
CHRISTOPHER LANDON : It was pretty fun. We were always laughing, and it was tough sometimes because there were times when we really needed to get the shit moving faster. It was hard because we had really funny people on set that made you laugh all the time.
SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE hits theaters tomorrow
WAMG has your passes to one of the funniest Zombie movies – ever!
Three scouts and lifelong friends join forces with one badass cocktail waitress to become the world’s most unlikely team of heroes. When their peaceful town is ravaged by a zombie invasion, they’ll fight for the badge of a lifetime and put their scouting skills to the test to save mankind from the undead.
From director Christopher Landon, the film stars Tye Sheridan, David Koechner, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sarah Dumont Nude and Cloris Leachman.
SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE invades theaters on October 30, 2015.
WAMG invites you to enter for a chance to win a pass (Good for 2) to the advance screening of SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE on Wednesday, October 28 at 7PM in the St. Louis area.
We will contact the winners by email.
Answer the following:
What is your favorite ZOMBIE movie to watch at Halloween and why?
TO ENTER, ADD YOUR NAME, ANSWER AND EMAIL IN OUR COMMENTS SECTION BELOW.
OFFICIAL RULES:
1. YOU MUST BE IN THE ST. LOUIS AREA THE DAY OF THE SCREENING.
2. A pass does not guarantee a seat at a screening. Seating is on a first-come, first served basis. The theater is overbooked to assure a full house. The theater is not responsible for overbooking.
3. No purchase necessary.
The film is rated R for Zombie violence and gore, sexual material, graphic nudity, and language throughout.
This Halloween, three scouts and lifelong friends join forces with one badass cocktail waitress to become the world’s most unlikely team of heroes in the upcoming SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE.
When their peaceful town is ravaged by a zombie invasion, they’ll fight for the badge of a lifetime and put their scouting skills to the test to save mankind from the undead.
The film stars Tye Sheridan, David Koechner, Cloris Leachman, Halston Sage, Logan Miller, Joey Morgan, Sarah Dumont and Patrick Schwarzenegger.
Get some advice from the scouts in these new training videos and new clip from director Christopher Landon’s movie.
On Wednesday, Oct. 28th, Paramount Pictures, AMC Theatres and Dillon Francis are offering moviegoers in the U.S. a one-night-only SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE Ultimate Fan Experience.
The event will take place in select AMC Theatres locations across the U.S. at 7:00 p.m. and ticket holders will also receive a commemorative t-shirt.
