Drop Director Christopher Landon Is Fighting To Keep Original Movies Alive [Exclusive Interview]

Christopher Landon is a name that horror fans likely know, but even those who don't know him by name surely know his work. As the writer of most of the "Paranormal Activity" movies before eventually directing "The Marked Ones," Landon has been putting his stamp on the genre for 15 years now. Now, Landon is back with his latest original feature film, "Drop," a contained thriller focused on the date from hell in a tech-gone-wrong scenario.

The film centers on Violet (Meghann Fahy), a widowed mother going on her first date in years. She meets her handsome date Henry (Brandon Sklenar) at an upscale restaurant and shortly thereafter becomes terrorized by a series of anonymous messages on her phone. Violet is quickly instructed to do terrible things on a mystery person's behalf, with her young son and sister at risk of being killed if she doesn't comply.

"Drop" recently premiered at SXSW in Austin, Texas, where it was met with rave reviews. I myself enjoyed the film quite a bit (you can read my full review right here). I had the good fortune of speaking with Landon ahead of the premiere. We discussed everything from how difficult it is to get an original movie made these days, why he liked working with Blumhouse, and whether or not we'll ever finally see "Happy Death Day 3."

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

First off, I should mention this is pre-premiere tonight. How are you feeling?

I am somewhere between total elation and abject terror. It changes every minute for me. I'm really excited to finally get to put this out there and see it with a really big audience, especially this audience, because this is the coolest festival, I think, in the world. I love the audiences here. I lived here a long time ago.

Oh, did you?

I did. So I've been part of this cinema community for a long time, and so I'm excited to be back here. So yeah, a lot of feelings. It's very emotional for me.

Well, I think one thing, I don't know if you get enough credit for this in recent years –

No. [laughs]

[laughs] Good answer. It's tough to get original stuff made, especially now, and you have managed to get original stuff across the finish line. How hard is that with a movie like this, particularly right now, post-pandemic, post-strikes?

It is harder than it's ever been, yeah. I'm very sad that, at a very difficult time, everyone panicked and did things that changed the behavior of audience members, and I think in a lot of ways irreversibly so.

Agreed.

So that's a bummer, but I think people are slowly warming back up to the idea of, "We can't have nice things if you don't take care of them." I do think that people still appreciate the experience of going to a movie, and this is the perfect movie for an audience. It's such a fun, communal experience to have. I'm hoping that people are going to show up.

I think we have two amazing stars that are on the rise. That, I think, helps. I think we have a really clean and exciting premise that helps and a certain relatability since we're all chained to these f***ing things [holds up his phone]. More than anything, I think word-of-mouth is still the best weapon that you can have. I'm praying that people like the movie and talk about the movie. Especially after tonight.

Look at Brandon, who was in "It Ends With Us" last year. How stoked were you when that happened? You're like, "He's in my movie!"

It was both amazing, then became something terrifying. [laughs] It's so funny, because I knew of the movie because he had just finished filming it when I cast him, but I didn't know anything about that movie. It's not my wheelhouse. So it came out of left field for me, and I think for a lot of people, the success of it. But it was definitely a blessing.

You've worked with Blumhouse quite a bit. You worked with Blumhouse years ago, and you've worked with Blumhouse now. I think Blumhouse has had to change as the business has changed. Before, Jason Blum was like, "Here's $5 million, go make your movie." I don't know if Blumhouse gets enough credit for being a purveyor of original cinema, but how much has it changed working for them over the years? Or has it not?

I think that their mission has maintained. I think that they still really do strive to make original stuff and they like to take risks. They're the only risk-takers, I think, out there, to be honest. Unless you're talking about the deep, deep pockets of a couple places like Amazon or Netflix, which they do take certain risks. I don't know what they are. They're algorithmic risks. I don't know.

Sure.

But I think that what [Blumhouse has] been able to really maintain and protect is original films, and also protecting filmmakers and their vision. That's still the best and the greatest reason to go and work with them, and it's why I continue to go back again and again, because you just have freedom. You have autonomy, they don't bother you, they don't tell you what to do. It's very collaborative and it's your movie, for better or for worse. I think that's a great thing to have when most things are made by committee now.

I only ask this because I'm certain the answer is a good thing. The trailer is great, but it feels like one of those trailers where it's like, "Did they just show me the whole movie?"

Totally.

My suspicion is that's not the case. Is that something you're involved in? Do you get to cut the trailer?

No. No. No. No. No. Marketing is completely separate. They have their own budgets. They have total autonomy on their side. It's interesting because first of all, it's a really tricky movie because it is ultimately a single location movie, for the most part. There's a lot of people sitting at tables. So it's not like, "Oh s***, that's exciting" in a trailer. So they kinda have to throw the kitchen sink in a situation like that, because my job is to make a good movie, and their job is to get people to show up. If they're going to throw as many things from the movie as they can, so be it.

What we are very much able to protect completely, and it was a group thing, was we were going to very much protect the actual mystery of the movie, which is what it is ultimately about. There are still a lot of surprises left in the movie for people. But yeah, you have to find that balance of what do you need to show to get butts in seats, because it is a business.

100%.

The people at Universal, they're the best to work with because they really do listen to filmmakers. And if there is something in there that you hate, they will take it out.

That's cool.

And they did. Because there were a few things I was like, "Please, dear God, don't do that."

That's nice to hear. And I've always maintained ... don't me wrong, I'm pretty spoiler-averse. But at the same time I'm like, "Look, if the movie's good, it should still hold up."

That's true. It's funny, we found that audiences who saw something in a trailer or whatever, they reacted the same way in the first viewing. So it ultimately doesn't matter. As long as you're not ruining s*** for them, or if you're misleading them. That's another thing. That's where marketing for me gets problematic. It's when they're afraid of something and so they try to mislead the audience into believing it's tonally a different movie. That's where I think you get into trouble.

I'm sure you're going to be asked about this a ton, but I do have a very specific question at this point as a big fan of the "Happy Death Day" movies. You definitely set up a third one. That was a handful of years ago. Could you even do it now? Has everyone aged out of your idea?

No. Not at all. I can do the idea anytime, because it's not set on that day. It's meant to be years in the future.

Oh, it is. Okay.

We could do it now or we could do it in five years. We could do it in 10 years. I think the concern now is are we just past the whole franchise's expiration date? Is it just too long in the tooth now? I don't know. We would do it. Jess [Rothe] and I talk about it all the time.

I have to imagine you do.

Because we loved making them together and we loved the third idea. For me, it's always like if you're going to make a sequel of any kind — a lot of filmmakers say this, but I feel like they don't always mean it: It has to have a reason to exist beyond money. For us, there was still more story left to tell for Tree.

Is it ever one of those things where you just do the William Gibson "Alien 3" thing? At some point you just do a graphic novel or something?

I really have. Because I think it would be a lot of fun. I think there are enough fans out there that would appreciate that. So I think if that's the path, I think we're still holding out some tiny kernel of hope that maybe Universal will wake up one day and be like, "We want this!"

I know I got to let you go in a second, but I have to say I adored "Heart Eyes." I know that's not what we're here to talk about, but I loved it.

I love that.

Every ounce of my slasher-loving heart loved it. I do have to ask, was that originally something that you intended to direct or was it always Josh Ruben's movie?

No. It was always going to be Josh's movie. When I came onto that project, funny enough, I was still in development and soft prep on "Scream [7]."

Oh really? Okay.

They brought that project to me because they felt like there was a lot of potential with the idea of a serial killer who targets couples on Valentine's Day. I immediately saw the opportunity to make a really gory rom-com. That was what I pitched back to them. I was like, "This should be a violent f***ing rom-com." Everybody knows I love a mashup. There's no secret there. But I'd never made a rom-com.

I was really excited about writing that movie and also producing, but I also felt like I've done that a bit. I didn't want to be that one trick pony. I'm such a big fan of Josh's work. And so it just seemed like a no-brainer, and I don't have an ego about that stuff. So I love to work with other directors. I do it all the time.

And Josh rules. I'm so happy for him.

Yeah. He crushed it. He did an amazing job. The cast was amazing. Everything about that movie I think works in such a quirky, fun way. This is top secret, but we have a really good sequel.

Really? It sucks that we can't talk about that more. It's funny that you say you wanted to make a rom-com, because the thing that I said walking out is what happened is it felt like someone wrote a good rom-com script, and then they said, "Why don't we throw a slasher villain in here and see what happens?"

That's what it was. That's what the appeal was for me. It was like, how do we make this really functional, entertaining rom-com, but this murderer keeps invading it? There was this old movie called "Foul Play" that I loved when I was a kid. That was one of the big inspirations for me for writing.

*****

"Drop" is in theaters now.