In a summer loaded with special effects and science-fiction extravaganzas, the typical scary movie wasn’t well represented. Wes Craven’s “Red Eye,” though, gave moviegoers just enough scare and thrill to keep them going until the busy Halloween movie season where we now find ourselves.

Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is a hotel executive who can handle just about anything her elite hotel regulars give her. We see her as a successful, young businesswoman returning from her grandmother’s funeral. She takes the last flight out back to Miami and her hectic life. At the airport she meets the charming, darkly smooth Jackson Rippner (Cillian Murphy). When they realize they are seated next to each other, Lisa seems comfortable with the man who was nice to her at the gate ... big mistake. As the plane takes off, Jackson lets Lisa know exactly what’s about to happen. Jackson needs her to pull some strings at her hotel so the assassination plot he’s planning can proceed smoothly. Lisa is then plunged into a fight between saving her father, who will be killed if she fails to help Jackson, or saving the deputy secretary of Homeland Security and his family.

What happens next is what gives “Red Eye” its momentum. The film moves along with the principle of not knowing how Lisa will save those closest to her. Without giving away too much, she takes matters into her own hands and gives the audience quite a ride.

Director Wes Craven, the mind behind “Nightmare on Elm Street” and “Scream,” knows exactly what to do to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Although “Red Eye” is well developed and full of suspense, Craven puts a lot of weight on chance. Jackson’s drastic actions seem a bit too bold to go unnoticed by even the most frustrated airline passengers, but “Red Eye” has a certain feel that lets us push away its obvious blemishes and simply stay for that crazy ride. It has a clever flow and a strong, dramatic presence. It does give off an odor of random teenage screaming, but tends to be suitable for anyone willing to enjoy a slight jolt of suspense.

“Red Eye” was designed to give some darkness to the “Superhero meets Cinderella” story and does so with ease and an air of grace, not exploiting fear through zombies or massacres. “Red Eye” lets its audience take a long flight through nail-biting, white-knuckle suspense.