"Craven directs the film with economy and minimal fuss. There are few distracting camera flourishes or winks at the audience. The humour never obstructs the forward momentum. The film is a model of efficiency, built by an expert." SYDNEY MORNING HERALD "Craven's terror-alert white-knuckler is a zippy, unpretentious entry in the subgenre, hinging on the enforced proximity of cat and mouse." "... a suspense filled flight into hell." Richard Surfield THE MOVIE PAGES Dennis Lim VILLAGE VOICE "McAdams delivers a tour de force; Murphy is delightfully evil, and Craven makes a smashing debut with a taut thriller that would be welcome in Hollywood's Golden Era." Tony Medley TOLUCAN TIMES "You've got 75 minutes worth of action. But if the action gets you going." David Stratton ABC'S AT THE MOVIES "..the film becomes a tense, testy battle of wills, as the feisty Lisa and the creepy Jackson fight it out – mainly in a cerebral way - amongst the cramped conditions of the plane. And while director Wes Craven keeps the action low key and confined, the film works a treat." Erin Free FILMINK

"It pulls just about every nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat trick imaginable, yet gets away with it through what is, admittedly, a clever and original gimmick." Kirk Honeycutt HOLLYWOOD REPORTER "This is one of Wes Craven’s best films to date." Stefan Halley HERO REALM "This is the film that PANIC ROOM wanted to be, and it’s not so obsessed with being slick and overstylized that it loses sight of the basics." Moriarty AIN'T IT COOL MOVIE REVIEWS "An especially effective and efficient thriller." Steve Rhodes INTERNET REVIEWS "Red Eye is a model of swiftness and efficiency, shrouded in a veil of secrecy." Ed Gonzalez SLANT MAGAZINE "A fun suspenseful romp, thanks to good acting and an even better, economic 85-minute running time." Phoebe Flowers SOUTH FLORIDA SUN-SENTINEL

The Inside Story

"Wes Craven banishes the memory of Cursed to bring us a lean thriller that's just right for armrest-gripping." Peter Canavese GROUCHO REVIEWS

"Please fasten your seat belts; you're in for quite a flight." says TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE critic Ken Fox and guess what? It's an assessment audiences are thoroughly agreeing with. And don't be fooled by the movie house trailers which give the impression that something supernatural happens on the flight, because it doesn't. As director Wes Craven explained, "This is definitely not a horror film; it’s a psychological thriller. There aren’t people being chased by a maniac with a butcher knife, and nobody wears a mask;except in the sense of presenting himself as one thing and then turning out to be something totally different." Which begs the question and Wes Craven provides the answer with a smile, "After all, you never know who you are going to sit next to on a plane." That not knowing who is getting on the flight with you is what provided the spark for screenwriter Carl Ellsworth. "All sorts of characters come on to airplanes. Sitting there, watching them come down the aisle, we’ve all had those thoughts like, 'What’s that guy about?' or 'Oh, I don’t want that person sitting next to me.' The story originated out of that," he says. Further inspiration came from seeing the film, "Phone Booth" "You could say that movie is a claustrophobic thriller in that there is a sniper holding a guy hostage in a phone booth. There is still a considerable amount of space between the good guy and the bad guy. I started to think about how I could condense that space even more. Could I have my protagonist and antagonist literally trapped together, side by side, and sustain the action and suspense? With "Red Eye", I think the answer is emphatically 'yes', because the tension for me is generated out of this very compelling conversation between these two individuals, Lisa and Jackson, which starts out innocently enough, but then suddenly develops into something much more sinister." Another important factor in the film, which cranks up the tension is, once the plane is at cruising altitude there is no way out. "If you’re on a plane, there’s truly nowhere to go, " says executive producer Mason Novick. "We didn’t have to invent a scenario for why the doors are locked or why they can’t get out for this reason or that. Lisa is stuck in that little seat with this guy who is threatening her with this horrific plot, and there is nowhere to run. It makes it very claustrophobic and in your face." Ellsworth's screenplay eventually came to longtime associate of director Wes Craven, prdoucer Marianne Maddalena. "I read it and I thought it was wonderful," she stated. "It was exactly what I had been looking for, a nice, tight little thriller, but at that point in time, Wes was exhausted. We were filming "Cursed", and he was planning his marriage at the same time. He was overwhelmed, so when I told him about "Red Eye", he said, 'I can’t; I’m too busy.' I said, 'Just read it. You’re going to love it,' and, just as I said, he read it and loved it." So what was it that impressed the famed director? "I am always most attracted to a project by the script, and the first time I read the script for "Red Eye", I felt it was a page-turner. It just compelled you to see what was going to happen next. You know, a director can do nothing if he doesn’t have a good script, and this screenplay by Carl Ellsworth was remarkably well constructed and very original. I felt it was a great opportunity to show my stuff in something other than a horror movie, and yet the story had all the elements for suspense and the kinds of surprises I enjoy using to keep people on the edge of their seats." And how did Carl Ellsworth feel when he heard the legendary director was on board? He says it was "a privilege, a real dream come true. Wes brought so many things to the script that added to the scare factor. He’s just the master." Just as excited was executive producer Mason Novick. "It was a great day when we got the phone call that Wes Craven was interested in the script," Novick recalls. "Everyone was excited, saying, ‘This guy is a legend.’ Most of us grew up watching his movies. As soon as we heard he wanted to do it, we knew we had to make it happen. From there, everything went ahead very smoothly." As for producer Marianne Maddalena, well her faith in Craven's ability to bring the project to the big screen was well grounded. "I thought this was a perfect movie for Wes to direct because, if you look at most of his movies, they are character-driven thrillers," she explained. "He is really an actor’s director, and this was such a good opportunity to work with great actors in a dramatic situation. For much of the movie, it’s really just two characters together on a plane, so it was great for him to be able to concentrate on that; on performance." Many cinemagoers already had actress Rachel McAdams pencilled in as a rising young star after seeing her in the acclaimed film, "The Notebook". The release of "Wedding Crashers" in which she starred alongside three of the biggest names in Hollywood, Oscar winner Christopher Walken and hot properties Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, proved she had the talent to take on any role. Producer Marianne Maddalena admits that when it came to casting the lead role McAdam was the only actress they had in mind for the part. Why? "She has a wonderful quality. She’s very beautiful but, at the same time, very accessible." Craven had even more praise for the young actress. "I had seen Rachel in ‘The Notebook’ and ‘Mean Girls,’ and knew she was actor of enormous range and great charisma, not to mention a fantastic beauty, and working with her was an enormous pleasure. She always came in totally prepared and was able to convey the deep and powerful emotions of this complex character very quickly. From the moment you see her on the screen, your eyes are just riveted on her. She’s funny, she’s vulnerable, she’s smart; she has a combination of beauty and wisdom and talent that is quite remarkable." All sounds great but what then was it that attracted the 2005 ShoWest Convention Award winner and three time MTV Award winner who made her big screen debut in the film "My Name is Tanino", to take the lead role of Lisa Reisert in "Red Eye"? "The psychological mind play between these two characters in that confined space was the element I was most attracted to in the script. It struck me as an incredible acting challenge to have to sit in one spot and be held hostage without letting anyone else know what is going on. Her arc was very interesting to me," she says. "Where Lisa starts and where she ends are two very different places, and the journey in-between is quite gripping." Made all the more gripping by her co-star who plays the very sinister Jack Rippner,the same man recently seen as the deranged Dr Jonathon Crane in "Batman Begins", Irish actor Cillian Murphy. And that's pronounced Killian, not Cillian. Murphy says "I tend to be drawn to characters who are in extreme situations where the scope of the drama is heightened, and this is definitely one of those roles. It was such an actor’s script, almost like a chamber piece with everything so contained within these two seats on a plane. I was instantly taken by it." It was a role the actor must have reall wanted because two days before his wedding, he flew to the USA to meet Craven. A move which added to the pre-wedding tension for his wife to be, Yvonne McGuinness who Marianne Maddalena recalls, "was very nervous that he wouldn’t make it back in time, but it all worked out. We talked to him for about half an hour, he flew back to London and got married two days later. He was the first and last actor we met for the role. We just knew this was the guy, and he was fantastic." And that's a good note to end on. The actors are fantastic, the film is fantastic and you'll really feel as though you are right there on board the Fresh Air flight 1019. The "Red Eye" from Dallas, Texas to Miami, Florida. Get you boarding pass at your local cinema and see it on the big screen. It's a rippa! Crew Bytes "RED EYE" was .......
directed by Wes Craven ["Deadly Blessing", "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "The Serpent and the Rainbow" and "Scream 1, 2 & 3"]; screenplay by Carl Ellsworth ["Xena: Warrior Princess", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Animorphs" and "Cleopatra 2525"]; story by Dan Foos ["Red Eye"] and Carl Ellsworth; costume design by Mary Claire Hannan ["Killing Zoe", "Jackie Brown", "How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog" and "Serendipity"]; production design by Bruce Alan Miller ["Creepshow 2", "Scream", "Scream 3" and "Cursed"]; edited by Stuart Levy ["The Silence of the Lambs", "Aliens", "The Pelican Brief" and "Mighty Aphrodite"] and Patrick Lussier ["Scream", "Scream 2", "Dracula 2000" and "My Boss's Daughter"]; cinematography by Independent Spirit Award winner Robert D Yeoman ["Drugstore Cowboy", "Rushmore", "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "The Life Aquatic with Steve Ziss"]; original music by Marco Beltrami ["Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines", "Hellboy", "Flight of the Phoenix" and "Kingdom of Heaven"] produced by Chris Bender ["Final Destination", "American Pie: The Wedding", "The Butterfly Effect" and "Monster-in-Law"] and Marianne Maddalena ["New Nightmare", "Vampire in Brooklyn", "Scream", "Scream 2", "Scream 3" and "Dracula 2000"]. Casting About "RED EYE" stars .......
Gemini Award winner Rachel McAdams ["The Hot Chick", "Mean Girls", "The Notebook" and "Wedding Crashers"]; Cillian Murphy ["The Trench", "28 Days Later", "Intermission", "Cold Mountain" and "Batman Begins"]; Jayma Mays ["Red Eye"]; Jack Scalia ["Under Oath", "Hell Mountain", "Shattered Lies" and "Exit"]; Suzie Plakson ["My Stepmother Is an Alien", "Little White Lies", "Disclosure" and "Wag The Dog"]; Robert Pine ["The Day of the Locust", "Empire of the Ants", "Independence Day", "Kiss Toledo Goodbye" and "Confidence"]; Carl Gillard ["Q: The Movie", "Retiring Tatiana", "Coach Carter" and "Natural Born Salesman"]; Loren Lester ["Rock 'n' Roll High School", "Evilspeak", "The Sweetest Thing" and "American Pie: The Wedding"] and Olivier Award & EMMY Award winner Brian Cox C.B.E ["Manhunter", "The Bourne Identity", "25th Hour", "X-Men 2", "Troy" and "The Bourne Supremacy"] as Joe Reisert. What It's All About

"Fast and furious and tightly focused and blessedly short at 85 minutes, it recalls not so much today's bloated, computer-crazed films, but tighter melodramas of the '50s." Stephen Hunter WASHINGTON POST

Lisa Reisert is returning home after attending her grandmothers funeral. She's booked on Fresh Air flight 1019, the 'red eye' from Dallas to Miami. The flight is delayed and that is causing some aggravation amongst those lined up at the check-in counter where staff are busy trying to re-route passengers and assist others. When an incident occurs between a staff member and one of the passengers, Lisa tries to defuse the situation. Her intervention only focusses the passengers anger on her. Then a stranger steps in. His firm attitude averts further confrontation. Later, while waiting for a boarding announcement, Lisa spots him in the Airport Bar. She joins him for a drink. He introduces himself as Jackson Rippner. It passes the time, Lisa even flirts a little with him, until the airline announces flight 1019 is ready for boarding. Once on board, Lisa receives a pleasant surprise. Jackson Rippner is on the same flight and she's seated next to him. It all seems too good to be true. And it is. Rippners job is government overthrows, flashy high profile assassinations, the usual. But on this flight, his business is all about Lisa. The Verdict "It's short, to the point and revs up the pace as the flight progresses. Wes Craven has cranked out a rippa moody thriller with a finish that is a real treat. Audiences will love Rachel McAdams and they'll love "Red Eye". Grab your boarding pass and get on flight 1019 for a suspense filled flight into hell. Put this on your must see on the big screen list. Do it now. Very Recommended." The Cast

Rachel McAdams Cillian Murphy Jayma Mays Brian Cox Jack Scalia Tina Anderson Jason Bartley Guy Chapman Noelle Drake Tom Elkins Kyle Gallner Rand Gamble Carl Gilliard Paulina Hunter Laura Johnson Max Kasch Loren Lester Monica McSwain Amber Mead Brittany Oaks Angela Paton Philip Pavel Suzie Plakson Angela Schnaible Beth Toussaint Martin Trees Jenny Wade Amanda Young Dey Young

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Lisa Reisert Jackson Rippner Cynthia Joe Reisert Dept Secretary Homeland Security Rebecca's Mom Airport Security Airline Passenger Coffee shop girl Pilot Kevin Traveler Taxi Driver Ticket Agent Fortyish Woman Headphone Kid Irate Passenger Young Flight Attendant Sarah Rebecca Nice Lady Ticket Agent #1 Senior Flight Attendant Flight Attendant Deputy Secretary's Wife Male flight attendant Coffee Shop Girl Flight attendent Airline Rep

The Crew Directed by Wes Craven Story written by Carl Ellsworth Screenplay by Carl Ellsworth Produced by Chris Bender & Marianne Maddalena Original Music by Marco Beltrami Cinematography by Robert D Yeoman Film Editing by Stuart Levy & Patrick Lussier Casting by Lisa Beach & Sarah Katzman Production Design by Bruce Alan Miller Art Direction by Andrew Max Cahn Set Decoration by Maggie Martin Costume Design by Mary Claire Hannan Unit Production Manager Cristen Carr Strubbe Run Time 85 minutes Rated MA15+ [AUST] Copyright ©2005 - Dreamworks - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2005 - Impact Internet Services & The Movie Pages - All Rights Reserved