Wes Craven applies cabin pressure in Red Eye.

By Cheryl Eddy

IF YOU THINK about it, the idea of setting a movie aboard an airplane is pretty ridiculous – a little claustrophobic, to say the least. But everyone loves Airplane!, and the Airport films thrilled people back in the day – they sure made enough of 'em, with some of the most outrageous casts in cinema history (I prefer Airport '77, because I have a soft spot for the Bermuda Triangle, though the nukes-in-the-Alps shenanigans of The Concorde: Airport '79 are fairly glorious). Recent genre entries include such manly affairs as Passenger 57, Executive Decision, Air Force One, Con Air, and, er, Soul Plane. Samuel L. Jackson is set to star in 2006's Pacific Air Flight 121, a working title that's exponentially less evocative than the film's original handle: Snakes on a Plane.

Next month, Jodie Foster surfaces in Flightplan, already dubbed Panic Plane by Internet snipers for its probable similarities to Foster's other mom-in-a-tight-spot flick, Panic Room. But first, the unfriendly skies welcome Red Eye, a tense tale that enhances Carl Ellsworth's so-so script with skilled direction by veteran horror helmer Wes Craven and strong performances by its leads, both rising stars who're already having a damn good summer: Rachel McAdams, from Wedding Crashers, and Cillian Murphy, from Batman Begins.

Like William Shatner in the Twilight Zone (or John Lithgow, if your point of reference is Twilight Zone: The Movie), Lisa (McAdams) hates to fly. But she's the top concierge at a fancy Miami hotel, and her crisis-management skills are sorely missed while she's attending Grandma's funeral in Texas. So she's obliged to return quickly, hopping the last flight out of Dallas. Early on, we see Lisa in action, cell-phoning soothing words to prissy regulars who're tearing into her meek front desk stand-in (Jayma Mays). She later diffuses a sticky situation at the airport ticket counter, where she meets the blue-eyed Jack (Murphy), a character whose full name, Jackson Rippner, is perhaps a wee bit too clever in its evocation of a certain London serial killer.

While Lisa and Jack make small talk in the airport bar, waiting for their delayed flight to board, a television in the terminal – blaring loud and unturn-off-able, one of many details that help Red Eye precisely replicate the ickiness of air travel – alerts us to controversial deputy secretary of homeland security, Charles Keefe (Jack Scalia). Since Red Eye is the kind of taut, compressed movie in which every second of screen time counts, it's soon obvious that Keefe, who happens to be someone who might stay at a fancy Miami hotel, will have bearing on the Lisa-Jack encounter. Another thread is started when we're introduced to Lisa's father, Joe (Brian Cox), who's lounging around his Florida home waiting for his daughter's return.

From Red Eye's ad campaign, you already know that Jack turns out to be the seatmate from hell; his nefarious plan is imparted to Lisa with this edict: "Behave if you want your dad to live." She can't let any of the other folks on board know she's being held hostage by a psychopath, though she makes several valiant attempts. Lisa's terror at 20,000 feet is further intensified when the plane runs into turbulence (naturally).

Craven, who sealed his name into legend with A Nightmare on Elm Street (and made Hollywood love him all over again with the gazillion-dollar Scream trilogy), is working in somewhat new territory here. Though Jack aspires to Freddy Krueger-esque cruelty, he's only human; Red Eye is a bare-bones thriller rooted firmly in reality (as one character observes, "Travel is war these days"). Craven makes expert use of the plane's confines, using extreme close-ups and swooping glides and revealing just enough about the surrounding passengers to keep things interesting.

When the action finally reaches terra firma, the resulting cat-and-mouse routine between Lisa and Jack is classic Craven. Lisa might as well be Neve Campbell's Scream character, battling the bad guy with improvised weapons and inciting the audience. (When I saw it, people were screaming in the theater, "He's hiding in the shower! Behind the curtain! Look out!") It's familiar, but it works because it's our man Wes pulling the strings.

The director also deserves props (and forgiveness for Cursed) for casting such compelling young actors. The intense performances of McAdams and Murphy do much to advance the air-scare genre, which with Red Eye reaches a much higher altitude than with many of its predecessors – the many charms of straight-to-cable howler Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal notwithstanding, of course.

'Red Eye' opens Fri/19 at Bay Area theaters. See Movie Clock for show times.