This is a pretty cool horror movie. When most people hear Red Eye, they think of a late night flight, but in this film it’s a train, and there’s nothing like a great haunted train for some chills and thrills. From the 1941 film The Ghost Train to the Korean horror film Red Eye, trains have been the setting for many films in many different genres. I remember laughing my butt off as a kid watching Silver Streak with Gene Wilder and Richard Prior.
Trains make excellent settings for horror films because not only are the passengers in confined spaces, but those spaces are moving at speeds that prohibit escape. One of the most important features of setting in a horror movie, I dare say THE most important is isolation. What I’d like to talk about in this film, however, has more to do with a plot device of narrative, and that’s Sins of the Father.
Siblings with a secret. Sins of the Father is a Biblical construct handed to us from Adam’s punishment in the Garden of Eden. He and Eve disobeyed God and were kicked out. It then goes that his punishment and misery will continue through his lineage (all of us) and that we also have to pay for his sins. Here’s a few Bible verses to muddy the matter:
Exodus 34:7 Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.
Numbers 14:8 The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.
Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jesus had a different slant in the New Testament. He was much more an every-man-in-his-own-sin-shall-be-judged kind of guy.
Exodus 34:7 Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.
Numbers 14:8 The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.
Psalms 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Jesus had a different slant in the New Testament. He was much more an every-man-in-his-own-sin-shall-be-judged kind of guy.
In Red Eye we see a new girl starting her stewardess job as a food trolley operator on a train that’s making its last run. The same train has a history as many years before there was a terrible accident. We find out through the film that this girl’s father was blamed by many for the accident. Add to that the info that some of these train cars were part of that original accident where lots of people died and you’ve got the perfect set up for isolation, revenge, and lots of ghosts. There’s also a couple on the train who were also on the crashed train when they were kids that lead to some interesting plot twists. There are some military (Hero archetypes) and some ghost hunters, one who claims she can see ghosts. Oh goody! Can’t say more.
This film is excellent in atmosphere and the acting isn’t bad. No new ground, really, but it’s definitely a well-made spooky flick. Enjoy!
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