10 Heart Stopping Horror Movie Chase Scenes You Can't Forget
2. Red Eye (2005)
Oh Wes Craven, how we miss you.
After toiling for two years making 2005's Cursed twice and the film being a dismal failure, Craven took the surprising decision to direct this taut action-thriller.
Red Eye follows Rachel McAdams' Lisa, manager of a luxury hotel, as she is forced to take a red eye flight from Dallas to Miami. At the airport, she meets the handsome and suave Jackson, played by Cillian Murphy. She revels in their instant chemistry and can't believe her luck when he is her seat-mate on the titular red eye. Only then does Jackson disclose that he is a domestic terrorist and informs Rachel she is a hostage. She must co-operate and ensure Jackson's high-profile target is in the right place at the hotel she manages. Failure to do this will result in the death of her elderly father.
Red Eye is a wonderfully tense game of wits with long, dialogue-heavy scenes given to just two characters. This is Craven at his best as a director, and he uses the claustrophobic plane cabin so well.
All of this thus makes for a huge change of pace when, in the final 20 minutes, the plane lands and, with the stab of a pen, McAdams promptly subdues Murphy and runs for her life through the crowded airport. Most wonderful about this scene is the dark comedy at play. Be it McAdams blending in expertly as a waitress, or Murphy yanking the pen nonchalantly from his own throat and flooring a stewardess, the viewer can't help but chuckle and cheer both on.
The tense chase continues with McAdams expertly taking twisting stairwells and a luggage conveyor belt in ridiculously high heels, as Murphy does his best T-1000 impression and stays close behind. The scene ends on a perfectly comic note as, wouldn't you know it, those pesky automatic doors decide to close at JUST the right time and McAdams departs smugly on a train.
This entire sequence in an masterclass in dark comedy and Scream alumni Marco Beltrami is at his best here with a rich orchestral score that keeps the tension and makes sure things never get too farcical.