Wes Craven’s reign as “The Master of Horror”™ has looked a little unstable of late. For every Craven movie that makes you scream (”A Nightmare on Elm Street,” “The Hills Have Eyes”), there’s one that makes you yawn (“Vampire in Brooklyn,” “The Hills Have Eyes Part II” ). With “Scream,” Craven resurrected the corpse of the Hollywood horror, creating an ironic, self-referential slasher flick with great rhetorical flourish. However, by the end of the trilogy Craven seemed to have well and truly exhausted his chiller formula (OK, we get it, you’re being postmodern!). Then “Cursed” arrived earlier this year, a lamentably turgid werewolf movie that had as much bite as a toothless Chihuahua. This week the director quickly returns with “Red Eye,” a claustrophobic, contemporary thriller that interestingly differs from the director’s typical fodder.

The bulk of “Red Eye” takes place on a plane, or the best parts do, anyway. Hotel manager Lisa Reisart (Rachel McAdams) is waiting for the delayed overnight to Miami, after attending a funeral in Dallas. While waiting to check in, she meets the unfortunately named Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy) who churns out enough slick one-liners to convince her to share a drink while they wait. When the plane is eventually ready for takeoff, they realize they’ve been assigned seats next to each other (fancy that!). Thus far, we have the makings of a noxious J-Lo rom-com; but remember, this is a Wes Craven movie. With touches of Hitchcock the plot takes a rapid turn to the sinister when Jackson reveals that he’s in the business of “overthrowing governments” and that Lisa’s father (Brian Cox) will be killed unless she aids him in his quest.

Craven neatly places the audience within the cramped confinements of the aisles, making for tense, uncomfortable viewing (though Hitchcock managed this on nothing more than a lifeboat.) McAdams and Murphy play cat and mouse well, with enough edgy exchanges and “he’s behind you” moments to remind us who the director is. “Are you stalking me?” he asks her when they meet on the plane. Of course she isn’t, and of course he is. Murphy, who’s already shown his psychopathic tendencies once this summer as Dr. Jonathan Crane in “Batman Begins,” is blessed with one of the best pairs of eyes in the business: cold, stark and ever so slightly wicked. McAdams adds a little more to the usual slasher prey, conveying the dilemma of possibly saving her father at the expense of others. Though the climax is a tad disappointing and silly, with Craven landing in usual territory, at a little under an hour and a half “Red Eye is an entertaining enough ride, providing a few B-Movie-esque thrills. And though perhaps not what he once was, Craven is still undeniably adept at making you put your hands over your eyes at least once a movie.

Red Eye
director: Wes Craven
starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox
rated: PG-13 for “some intense sequences of violence and language”