Disturbing yet enthralling

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

PROS: Real fear. This film takes a very far fetched idea from reality and makes me have fear like it could actually happen. This is what really drives home the build up of tension. Terror of the mind, is psychological horror. Terror of the body, is torture horror. Terror of the unknown, is sci-fi horror. And terror of realism, is slasher/tense horrors like this one. Its's all about drawing in the watcher into this world of panic that can actually be sustained. This movie does a great job at delivering this from beginning to end, and most importantly the end. Each scene is quite alluring in the fact that you want to know more, and when you get to the ending the director does an excellent job at making "all hell break loose" when trying to develop an ending that is memorable, interesting, helpful, and congruent to the plot.CONS: The one thing poor about this film is the acting. Granted the acting wasn't bad, at all, but the acting was most certainly not full of extraordinary actors. Everyone felt very flat, or average.www.chorror.com

In a world of increasingly bloated Hollywood epics it's kind of nice to see a film that has an economical run time (a mere 85 minutes) and a tight story.The late Wes Craven is best known for straightforward horror films, this is a thriller, though it does get into more traditional Craven territory towards the end. The film taps into a number of common fears about flying and loss of control. It's well made, maintains the tension throughout, but still has room for a joke or two.Rachel McAdams is engaging as the likable Lisa caught in a nightmare, and Cillian Murphy is effective as the soft spoken, cold eyed terrorist.Definitely worth checking out.

The first thing that struck me at the end of this film was why the writers felt the need to have so much exposition at the start? Given the fact that for the most part it's a rather tightly-plotted thriller I didn't understand why the film couldn't have started with Cillian Murphy and Rachel McAdams meeting on the plane? Enough of the plot is covered when they are on the plane making their earlier scenes seem almost redundant. Anyway now that that's out of the way let's take a look at the rest of my issues with this film...Firstly, the narrative is muddled and vague; we learn that Cillian Murphy's character has kidnapped Rachel McAdams father as leverage to get her to arrange for a Homeland official to placed in a pre-arranged hotel room so that his cronies can assassinate him. This is fine, but why exactly are they killing him? What do they want? These things are never made clear and sadly sloppiness likes this is merely a sign of things to come...Secondly, Cillian Murphy arranges for his assistant to keep an eye on McAdams father and informs her that he will get his assistant to kill her father if she fails to comply with his demands... Later McAdams stabs Murphy in the neck on the plane and escapes from him, but yet Murphy seems to make no attempt to inform his colleague that she's escaped and that she'll be on her way to rescue her father??? I understand that his vocal chords were damaged after the attack, but he could still speak and could have still called or texted his associate to warn him that McAdams was on her way... I also didn't understand why, after going to all the trouble of stealing her father's documents that they didn't just kidnap him anyway (as opposed to just sitting outside his house).Thirdly, I'm also not entirely convinced that you can orchestrate a kidnapping and assassination plot from inside an aircraft without anyone overhearing or getting suspicious...Fourthly, I also didn't understand what was the significance of moving the Homeland security official from one room to another when Murphy's cronies were assassinating him by firing a missile at him. Why did it have to be that room? Why couldn't they aim the missile at the original room he was staying in? On a slightly more minor note, I also noticed at one point in the film that a member of the cabin crew announced that "the seat-belt sign is off so you can get up and stretch your legs now" - even though people were up and about walking around the plane before the cabin crew official made this announcement.Things really get silly in the final act where we're treated to the usual 'pick-a-boo' villain appearing out of nowhere and from everywhere. We're also treated to an ingenious scene where Rachel McAdams kindly shouts 'Hey' to Cillian Murphy before attempting to hit him with a large vase which he promptly blocks as he was given sufficient warning by his attacker. Why announce to your attacker that you're there before hitting them??? Beats me, but then again I gave up trying to make sense of this film...On a slightly more positive note some of the scenes on the plane aren't bad and Craven clearly tries his best to create tension here, but he's held back by rather limited material and although appropriately tense at times many of the scenes on the aeroplane soon become repetitive and a little tedious.Whilst it never falls into the realms of being unwatchable Red Eye nevertheless is a film that insults your intelligence at almost every turn. To think that this utter mess was directed by the same man that brought us the superb Nightmare On Elm Street. The mind boggles....

Red Eye (2005): Dir: Wes Craven / Cast: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays, Colby Donaldson: Wes Craven's second release of 2005, and somewhat better than his werewolf disappointment Cursed. Rachel McAdams works at an airline where she is boarding a plane home to Miami but she keeps encountering a seemingly charming Cillian Murphy. On board she learns that Murphy is not that charming and that her father will be murdered if she doesn't agree to make a phone call that will prevail the assassination of a wealthy businessman. While fairly predictable the action is tense thanks to director Wes Craven who works here without the gore effects. This is not quite up there with previous films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Last House on the Left but it is an ambitious attempt to skirt outside expectations. McAdams delivers a fantastic performance as she struggles to prevent two murders as well as survive herself. Murphy is both charming and sinister. Obviously they will clash in the third act where conventions set in. Supporting roles are unfortunately flat but Brian Cox appears as McAdams's father. Colby Donaldson plays the head secret service agent and that is about the extent of it. Theme regards holding strong when pressured by all sides. For Craven this is a step beyond Cursed and forward to more alarming suspense to come. Score: 7 / 10