A nightmare date is transformed into the perfect date-night movie in the niftily conceived and nail-biting Drop, the eighth feature from Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon. Rising TV star Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus, The Bold Type) turns cinematic leading lady as Violet, a Chicago-based psychologist and traumatised single mother whose attempt to get back out there romantically is derailed by a series of menacing messages.

Brandon Sklenar (It Ends With Us) plays photographer Henry, Violet’s date, who she has been messaging for months. The pair are eating at a swish rooftop restaurant, with the other diners, bar and waiting staff, and a sleazy piano player coming under suspicion as the source of a series of anonymous AirDrops which start popping up on Violet’s phone. These messages threaten Violet’s five-year-old son Toby (Jacob Robinson) and her babysitting sister Jen (Violett Beane) if she refuses to comply with the increasingly sinister requests.

Combining high-concept Hitchcockian machinations with death-game devilry and isn’t-tech-terrifying commentary, Drop is a satisfying, tightly constructed watch, with a glossy aesthetic and edge-of-the-seat dilemmas ideally suited to a big-screen experience. The slim plot and limited setting are enlivened by visually imaginative execution and by Fahy’s superbly stressed-out, resilient yet vulnerable performance that cements her status as one to watch.

It’s not exactly revolutionary stuff, but Landon is pretty seasoned at this kind of thrill-ride (he’s also the director of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and Freaky). He’s a filmmaker that knows exactly how to keep the tension high and the twists coming, all the way to a shamelessly action-packed, slightly OTT ending.

Drop is in cinemas from Friday 11 April.