Fans Of Drop Will Love This Underrated, Tense Thriller Streaming On Prime Video

The only thing more stressful than having the jitters before a special occasion is having an outside party intensify that wave of anxiety tenfold under the threat of death. In Christoper Landon's superb new thriller "Drop," which /Film's Ryan Scott lauded as a lean, crowd-pleasing ride in his review, Meghann Fahy plays a single mother who finds herself on the first date from hell when she starts receiving a series of threatening airdrop messages. Should she not follow the mysterious figure's specific instructions to kill her date, then her son will die, as will anyone she attempts to warn in the process.

Landon makes the leap from horror-comedy to high tension thriller with ease here, creating a gripping sense of paranoia as our main character grapples with the terrible predicament she's found herself in. You'll see a lot of folks comparing "Drop" to Wes Craven's "Red Eye," and they're not wrong. The latter film is a fun, if slight, cat-and-mouse game in which Rachel McAdams is threatened by Cillian Murphy during a red-eye flight as part of a larger (and deadly) conspiracy. As for me, I'd like to turn your attention to a gripping 2013 thriller with a similar premise — one that you likely haven't heard of but which deserves way more eyes on it.

In "Grand Piano," Elijah Wood plays Tom Selznick, a concert pianist riddled with anxiety as he's set to make his long-awaited return to the stage. Over five years earlier, Tom (the protege of revered composer Patrick Godureaux, played by Jack Taylor) choked while trying to finish the last few notes of his mentor's complex composition piece, "La Cinquette." But an entire Chicago auditorium has come out to see Tom honor his now-deceased mentor with the musical comeback of the century.

If the weight of expectations wasn't heavy enough, Tom's big night becomes that much more burdened when he realizes he's being targeted by a sniper (John Cusack) that can see his every move. Should he play one wrong note and not complete "La Cinquette" to perfection, not only will he die, but his actor wife Emma (Kerry Bishé), who's watching from a box seat above, will also be killed. Needless to say, this makes Tom develop an even more intense case of stage fright.

"Isn't it amazing what you can get away with in a crowded theater when all eyes are on the stage?" asks Cusack's disembodied antagonist.

Wood is the perfect actor to toss into the orchestral meat grinder. He's a flexible performer who can play anything from a wide-eyed hobbit traversing through Middle-earth in "The Lord of the Rings" to a cold-blooded serial killer in "Sin City," but his sensitivity makes for a quietly layered performance in "Grand Piano" that plays to his strengths. He's phenomenal at looking terrified by the invisible spotlight thrust upon him. We see that Tom is a kind-hearted person who's very much on edge long before he discovers the red marker that alters the course of his night. It only makes the dread that much more palpable when we start to see signs of a much more sinister concert that's about to take place.

An ear piece provides an auditory correspondence with Cusack's largely unseen assassin, who wants Tom to stay focused but presents himself as a cat who simply can't resist playing with his food. He talks to the anxious pianist with the confidence of someone who believes this can all go down much smoother than it appears. Cusack has a blast playing the puppet master, waiting for the opportunities to pull on Tom's strings to see if they will snap.

A central player in the symphonic conflict is composer Victor Reyes, whose heart-pounding score emphasizes a sonic tension that reverberates through Wood and Cusack's many verbal sparring sessions. It even works without the physical threat, as it manifests into an internal battle you can see Tom waging with himself. The concerto's highs and lows mirror the extreme pressure of a musician simultaneously on the hook for his audience, wife, orchestral team, and, most importantly, his legacy.

We seem to have moved away from high concept thrillers that make good use of a single location. "Grand Piano" is an excellent example of this being done right. The film is elegantly directed by composer turned filmmaker Eugenio Mira, who wrings a great deal of suspense out of the Chicago auditorium as the ultimate stage for terror. It's a shame Mira hasn't directed a feature film since this; he brings a real old-school flair to the table, allowing the movie to thrive in its marriage of visual and auditory thrills.

"Grand Piano" is possessed by the spirits of Alfred Hitchcock and Brian De Palma, as the camera is having just as much fun toying with Wood's pianist as the assassin is. I levitated at the inclusion of a match cut that brilliantly compounds someone getting their throat slit with a shard of glass against a bow scraping against violin strings. Between the beads of sweat and wandering eyes, the camera relishes in capturing the psychological distress on every inch of Wood's face. The looming threat of death is accentuated by the hellishly red backdrop he's enveloped in.

One of the more eye-catching talents attached to the film is "La La Land" and "Babylon" filmmaker Damien Chazelle, who wrote its script. There are points where the adversity to play a flawless concert operates like a dry run for the musical intensity Chazelle would inevitably bring to "Whiplash." Chazelle considered his visit to the "Grand Piano" set an invaluable experience as a blossoming storyteller, seeing how the movements of the camera were attuned to the pre-ordained layering of the music itself.

All in all, "Grand Piano" is a pulpy good time that doesn't waste a second thrusting you into the chaos, and, at 90 minutes, doesn't overstay its welcome.

"Grand Piano" is currently streaming on Prime Video.