RED EYE / Wes Craven (2005)
February 2nd, 2008 by Scott Marks
RED EYE (2005)
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Carl Ellsworth
Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox and Jayma Mays.
Running Time: A merciful 85 mins.
Aspect Ratio: 
Rating: 
Urbandictionary.com lists three distinct definitions for “red eye”:
1. A late night airline flight.
2. A type of whiskey consumed in the old west.
3. Your a**hole
All three definitions apply in varying degree to Wes Craven’s Airport ‘05.
Rachel McAdams, looking barely old enough to get a room let alone manage a hotel, plays Lisa, an unduly efficient innkeeper returning to Miami on the red eye from her grandmother’s funeral. An unexpected layover gives her time to meet and greet Jackson “Don’t Call Me Jack D.” Rippner. (Do you smell that? It’s a first-time screenwriter inventing funny names!) Cillian Murphy’s Jackson is arrestingly charming, especially if you’re turned on by a guy who looks slightly less menacing than Peter Lorre (circa “M”) shooting morphine outside an elementary school.
The two have a drink in the airport lounge, a plot point that will come in handy by reel two. Just about everything that happens in reel one perfunctorily comes back into play. So much for the element of surprise. One can award only so much blame to duffer Carl Ellsworth’s script. Craven has signed over twenty features, most in the teen horror genre, and should have learned something about structure by now. But, with all his commercial success why stop to contemplate nuance?
Once the captain turns off the seat-belt sign Jackson gets down to business: Lisa’s dad will die unless she can instruct her assistant (comic relief Jayma Mays) to downgrade the lodgings of a high-profile politician (Jack Scalia) and his family from their customary rooms to the Certain Death Suite.
Craven consistently frames his stars in one choking anamorphic close-up after another. The production notes crow that the ersatz aircraft was built on hydraulics that shook it from side to side in order to simulate turbulence. Filmed at such close range you can barely notice the seatbacks let alone the set. Why not just save a few bucks and jiggle the camera?
After enduring five of Craven’s pre-Freddie Krueger epics I took an oath to swear off his patented brand of schlock. Together, The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, Summer of Fear, Deadly Blessing and Swamp Thing comprise a blank calling card. With Nightmare on Elm St. 3 I broke the vow. I’m a sucker for 3-D, but even that failed to impress. My fondness for Drew Barrymore eventually brought me back, but forty-five minutes of Scream found me racing for the door.
In the seventies, horror was defined by David Cronenberg, George Romero, Larry Cohen, Dario Argento, Joe Dante and John Carpenter. Wes Craven’s witless, TV-paced track record became an assurance of pressurized dung. Twenty-five years later finds pale Asian girls with dirty black hair covering their faces and Rob Zombie leading the chills in horror movies. At least give him credit for one thing: Craven is still in there swinging. Now if only someone would point him in the general direction of the mound.
Tags: Cillian Murphy, Cillian_Murphy, dvd, Film, Film Review, Movie, Movie Review, Rachel McAdams, RED EYE, Review, Wes CravenShare: 
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5 Responses to “RED EYE / Wes Craven (2005)”
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As usual sarbast has hit the nail on the head.
Actually, as long as I’m over here, I may as well say it’s funny you’ve never seen the original “Elm Street” as I’ve always thought it was pretty much the exception that proves the rule. I think it’s a real cut above the 80s slasher trend. I can’t recall in what capacity his name is on the third one but I think that’s strictly in a check-cashing capacity.
I find the “Scream” films watchable enough but I don’t have it in me to make an argument for them. Maybe sarbast can do it.
Sarbast is a verbal minimalist. I am hoping he or she meant that my review delivered the goods.
Sarbast is REALLY minimalist now.
Elm St. 3 for the 3-D?
Do you mean FREDDY’S DEAD which featured the final 15 minutes in 3D or Friday the 13th Part 3D? Craven had nothing to do with either film.
Looking forward to hearing this weeks KPBS Film Club.
I stand corrected. It was “Friday the 13th” Part 3. My “Elm St.” cherry remains unbroken.