2K Replay: RED EYE

 by Adam Riske

Nominated for “Best Thriller Trailer” at the Golden Trailer Awards. It lost to Match Point.

• Best Scene/Moment (tie): The scene where Cillian Murphy puts away his nice guy act and reveals his nefarious plot to Rachel McAdams and every time someone references that Brian Cox is staying up to watch “the comedy marathon” on television. Why not just say “the Three Stooges marathon” or “the Happy Days marathon”? The comedy marathon just sounds hilarious.

• Best Song: “Where Do I Begin?” by The Chemical Brothers. I don’t remember it in the movie, but the song is listed on the soundtrack on IMDB as uncredited so, you know, still counts.

• Best Merch: I didn’t want to pick the film’s poster, so I’ll make an ironic choice - a “Vintage Red Eye Movie Ticket…” for $22.49. The seller says it’s faded but readable. I wonder what they’d charge if it wasn’t faded?

• Director Grade: Red Eye was directed by Wes Craven.
Great Movies: A Nightmare on Elm Street, The People Under the Stairs, Scream, Scream 2
Good Movies: The Serpent and the Rainbow, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Paris je t’aime
OK Movies: Shocker, Vampire in Brooklyn, Red Eye, Scream 4
Bad Movies: Deadly Blessing, Deadly Friend, Scream 3, Cursed, My Soul to Take
Unseen By Me: The Last House on the Left (1972), The Fireworks Woman, The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Swamp Thing, The Hills Have Eyes Part II, Music of the Heart
Overall Grade: A-

• Double It with This 2005 Movie: Cursed

• Year 2005 Movies to Trailer Before: Batman Begins, The Family Stone, Wedding Crashers

• Never Talk to Strangers or Red Eye? Never Talk to Strangers

• Mall Movie? Yeah. Most Wes Craven movies are mall movies, and this is a B-grade thriller, which feels mall appropriate.

• Only in 2005: Wes Craven directed two movies released in the same year. This was a fluke since Cursed was delayed but, you know, still counts.

• Scene Stealer: Brian Cox

• I Miss: Wes Craven

• I Don’t Miss: I’m sure she’s a nice person but the Jayma Mays performance. We get it…you’re frazzled.

• 2005 Crush: Rachel McAdams

• 2025 Crush: Rachel McAdams

• What I Thought in 2005: I liked Red Eye especially as an August release. I thought it was a tight, fun little thriller and I was really excited about the burgeoning career of Rachel McAdams, who had a big 2004 (with The Notebook and Mean Girls) but was really putting herself on the map in 2005 between Wedding Crashers, Red Eye, and The Family Stone.

• What I Think in 2025: I liked Red Eye less than I did twenty years ago. I still think the leads (McAdams and Murphy) are fun and hold the movie together well, but maybe I just don’t like plane movies with all the supporting players doing their plane acting? A lot of the film (especially in the second half) feels a bit broad and chintzy to me, like something that in 2025 would be made for Netflix. Red Eye is better than Wes Craven’s Cursed, but I might prefer to rewatch Cursed.