Rachel McAdams & Cillian Murphy’s Psychological Thriller Is A Netflix Hit 20 Years Later

In 2005, Cillian Murphy gave one among his best-known performances in “Batman Begins,” taking part in Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s reboot of the Batman franchise. However that wasn’t the one villain he performed that summer time. Actually, some would possibly even say it wasn’t one of the best villain he performed that summer time. Launched simply two months after “Batman Begins” hit theaters, “Crimson Eye,” an uncharacteristically cerebral thriller from horror icon Wes Craven, starred Murphy as a scheming and manipulative murderer.

In “Crimson Eye,” Murphy performs Jackson Rippner (do not let that dissuade you from watching), a good-looking stranger onboard a purple eye flight to Miami that additionally occurs to be internet hosting Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams), a resort supervisor who’s flying residence following a funeral. The pair quickly discover themselves sitting collectively on the airplane, which looks as if the right charming rom-com meet cute. However issues shortly take a flip when it is revealed that Jackson is a part of a plot to assassinate the pinnacle of Homeland Safety and wishes Lisa to assist him do it. With the intention to coerce the resort supervisor into swapping the official’s room quantity at her resort, he is kidnapped Lisa’s father (Brian Cox), prompting a cat-and-mouse sport between the 2 that makes “Crimson Eye” a examine, stable thriller from the late, nice Craven.

The director could be finest recognized for slashers equivalent to “A Nightmare on Elm Road” and “Scream,” however with “Crimson Eye” he switched gears considerably, delivering a taut psychological thriller that, for a lot of followers of the late horror maestro, is well one of many finest Wes Craven films. Now, the Netflix technology has been given an opportunity to revisit, or maybe expertise for the primary time, this under-appreciated gem — and it seems as if they’re loving it.

As most will know, Cillian Murphy’s profile obtained an enormous enhance in recent times due to his Oscar-winning efficiency because the titular physicist in “Oppenheimer.” Hopefully, this prompted some viewers to look deeper into the person’s filmography, which is full of missed gems like “Crimson Eye” — a movie that even managed to make /Movie’s personal listing of the finest Cillian Murphy films. Now, the thriller has hit Netflix, and an entire new technology is experiencing it for the primary time. What’s extra, if its chart efficiency up to now is something to go by, it appears these new viewers are impressed.

“Crimson Eye” debuted on Netflix on July 1, 2025, and it did not take lengthy for the streamer’s subscribers to search out it amid the platform’s ever-expanding deluge of “content material.” In accordance with FlixPatrol, a web site that tracks streaming viewership figures, the movie managed to crack the US High 10 films chart on July 2 when it hit quantity eight, earlier than disappearing from the rankings the next day. However on July 5, it made a return, charting at quantity 10 earlier than falling to quantity 9 the next day and holding robust in that very same spot on the time of writing.

For now, the film is sitting behind Charlize Theron’s 2020 superhero movie “The Previous Guard” … although, contemplating /Movie’s Chris Evangelista known as that movie an “immortal bore that wastes an ideal premise,” “Crimson Eye” ought to have the ability to no less than maintain robust if not achieve some floor.

The Netflix charts do not at all times serve up essentially the most intriguing movies and exhibits, however “Crimson Eye” is a type of films deserving of a Netflix renaissance. Not solely did it make $96.6 million on a $26 million price range and obtain vital reward upon its preliminary launch, however it’s additionally extra influential than you would possibly suppose. Simply earlier this 12 months, “Drop” director Christopher Landon even managed to pay homage to Craven and his under-appreciated horror-thriller by infusing his personal film with a lot of what made “Crimson Eye” so nice — most notably with the 2 movies primarily happening in a single location.

Should you’re nonetheless not satisfied, contemplate that “Crimson Eye” has a really respectable 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, and in contrast to some films whose optimistic RT scores are made up of a number of lukewarm critiques which have fallen into the overly simplistic “Recent” and “Rotten” binary, the “Recent” critiques for “Crimson Eye” are all very complimentary.

Scott Tobias of the AV Membership wrote, “If setting up a thriller might be likened to constructing a home, then Wes Craven’s ‘Crimson Eye’ is an ideal piece of structure.” This effectivity with which Craven constructed his thriller was seen by different reviewers, too. The New Yorker’s David Denby was impressed by what he known as a “difficult duel” between the 2 major characters, which, he wrote, “relies on exact commentary of bodily element and moment-by-moment continuity so intently calibrated that it is unattainable to discover a wasted shot or an exaggerated emotion.” Stephen Hunter of the Washington Publish, in the meantime, known as the movie “tightly targeted,” observing that it recalled “not a lot as we speak’s bloated, computer-crazed movies, however tighter melodramas of the ’50s.” The Netflix charts won’t at all times be one of the best “what to look at” information, then, however you possibly can’t actually go mistaken with “Crimson Eye.”