Some of the most memorable horror comedy films are boosted by their epic titles, from Bodies Bodies Bodies to Happy Death Day. Speaking of the latter, ever since Happy Death Day 2U dropped in 2019, fans of the franchise have been itching for a threequel. Filmmaker Christopher Landon directed the first two and recently offered MovieWeb additional promising updates on Happy Death Day 3 following his recent announcement that it’s moving forward. We caught up with Landon in Los Angeles while he was promoting his new Blumhouse thriller Drop, now playing in theaters.
“We are definitely talking about Happy Death Day 3,” Landon told MovieWeb. “I’ve had the idea for a long time. I’ve talked about it a lot with [lead actress] Jessica Rothe, and so we’re finally restarting that whole conversation right now. So we’re hopeful.” Rothe, for her part, is all in on the third installment, and loves the story that Landon has in mind, telling ScreenGeek in 2024:
“Well, I can say Chris Landon has the whole thing figured out. We just need to wait for Blumhouse and Universal to get their ducks in a row. But my fingers are so crossed. I think Tree [Gelbman] deserves her third and final chapter to bring that incredible character and franchise to a close or a new beginning.”
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Moviegoers who have seen Landon’s work, such as Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Freaky, and Happy Death Day, can expect a stylish end result. And such is the case with Drop, a Hitchcockian thriller with modern-day features to drive the narrative, such as AirDrop-type messages that throw Landon’s protagonist Violet (Meghann Fahy) for a horrific loop. The messages she receives on her phone are stylized on-screen in giant graphics for the audience to effectively keep up with Violet’s first date from Hell.
“I knew that I wanted those conversations to feel like a conversation and not be, like, phone inserts,” said Landon. “So, early on in the process, you know, [I was] constantly thinking about negative space and where I could place things, and making sure that all of that was designed properly.” The filmmaker continued:
“In terms of all the stylized camerawork, and especially a lot of the lighting cues, which we use a fair amount, that was something that we discovered in prep… I had a couple ideas around that, but then I realized I want to keep pushing this more and more and more because it really helped me get inside of Violet’s head and what she was experiencing emotionally, from a visual standpoint. It also allowed for me to help break up the visual monotony of a movie that is set in a single location.”
The “Magic” of ‘Drop’
Leading lady Fahy — who fans of The White Lotus will remember from Season 2 — gives yet another award-caliber performance with Drop, especially opposite the reliably solid Brandon Sklenar (It Ends With Us, 1923), who plays her first date trying to comprehend what sort of deadly situation Violet has gotten herself in, which serves as the film’s central conflict. Landon told us how these two actors ended up making the film even more special:
“[Fahy] made my job easy, to be honest, you know? She’s incredibly talented. My job is really just to sort of help provide bumpers and sort of be a bit of a compass and help guide them emotionally through the movie. But she does all the hard work… And Brandon Sklenar is amazing, you know, as well. He’s such a talented actor, and he’s such a leading man, you know? Like, to have someone with that much presence and charisma, but it still feels grounded and approachable… The magic of the movie is their chemistry and how badly you want these two people to survive.”
Experience the authentic chemistry for yourself. From Universal Pictures, Drop is now playing in theaters.
Drop
4
/5
- Release Date
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April 11, 2025
- Runtime
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85 Minutes
- Writers
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Jillian Jacobs, Christopher Roach
