Wes Craven has a shaky relationship with the horror community. His “Nightmare on Elm Street” helped define the slasher genre in the 1980s, but his “Scream” movies openly mocked such conventions.

After his last offering, “Cursed,” proved to be too aptly-named at the box office, Wes Craven has returned with the taunt and fast-paced thriller “Red Eye.”

The film opens with Lisa (Rachel McAdams), an experienced and resourceful hotel receptionist, preparing to board a late flight to Miami. She meets a handsome gentleman named Jackson (Cillian Murphy) at the airport, boarding the same plane, and even occupying the seat right the seat next to her.

Unfortunately, Jackson lets it slip that he is an assassin targeting the tough-talking secretary of Homeland Security. Only Lisa has the connections to move the secretary from his secure hotel room to a death-trap upstairs. Unless Lisa complies with Jackson’s plan, her father (Brian Cox) will be murdered.

In “Red Eye,” Craven achieves a great deal through tight quarters, good camera angles and a small but capable cast.

Murphy proved he could play a good villain in this summer’s “Batman Begins,” and here he does a terrific job. McAdams plays up the role as Jackson’s antithesis  – emotional and pragmatic paired with Jackson’s cold and calculating exterior.

The script is both Craven’s biggest asset and weakest link. Throughout the airport and upon the plane, Craven manages to turn one of the safest routes of transportation into a cold and emotionless hazard zone. Soon, all the precautions designed to promote Lisa’s safety work in Jackson’s favor. The problem is the script eventually moves the action to the ground below. There, all the tension is removed, and Jackson goes from calculating intellectual to muttering brute.

In a way, Wes Craven is very much like “Night of the Living Dead” director George A. Romero, in that all of his films somehow reflect the era in which they are made. Craven’s 1977 “The Hills Have Eyes” film depicts American suburbanites conflicting with a brutal and savage counterpart. “Nightmare on Elm Street” shows the failure of psychological breakthroughs to protect children from their darkest fears. “Scream” is a postmodern tale of over-savvy horror fans up against the real article.

In a similar way, “Red Eye” is something of a commentary on the post-9/11 mind-set of safety on the airways. Murphy’s Jackson embodies the ever-present face of terrorism – he is charismatic, determined and desperate. Yet his biggest flaw is his misogyny.

Craven’s “Red Eye” serves to reinvigorate the filmmaker’s career. After a few setbacks, Wes Craven has finally proven that he has a lot more to say about the nature of the world and what scares audiences.