What is a human being?
The scientific answer to that question, at least insofar as it relates to the human species, is simple. We are a primate, highly intelligent and skilled at utilizing tools, which has managed to overtake the planet with a vigorous effectiveness rivaled only by viruses ravaging individual living organisms. On an individual level, though, human beings are complex. We are capable of deep love and lofty ambition, of destructive hate and depraved selfishness, of embracing life and fearing death. If Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner was correct when he declared in 1949 that “the human heart in conflict with itself” is the only subject of good writing “because only that is worth writing about,” he could have been talking about “Flight 7500.” All the different models that exist for human beings are represented here, and the story deftly connects their conflicts with themselves with the supernatural horrors they encounter on the titular airplane.
Our cast of characters, as presented in the script written by Craig Rosenberg:
Laura Baxter (Leslie Bibb) — An air hostess who is having an affair with one of the pilots, a married man named Captain Pete Haining (Johnathon Schaech), but feels guilty about the family she is potentially destroying and doubtful of whether he actually intends on starting a life with her.
Suzy Lee (Jamie Chung) — Another air hostess, but instead of engaging in an affair, she is harboring unresolved doubts about her engagement to a man that she admits is wonderful but doesn’t inspire her like some of her exes.
Brad and Pia Martin (Ryan Kwanten and Amy Smart) — A likeable couple (and, in Brad’s case, a man with medical training) who have secretly broken up with each other but refuse to tell the outside world out of a combination of embarrassment and exhaustion (although they think of excuses to rationalize that choice).
Jake the thief (Alex Frost) — Obnoxious and cocky, he sells stolen merchandise and steals from anyone who can’t defend themselves while justifying his behavior by citing the economic injustices that millennials must endure due to the misdeeds of the baby boomers. He isn’t entirely wrong, although the movie naturally has to condemn him.
Rick and Liz Lewis (Jerry Ferrara and Nicky Whelan) — A laid back guy who marries a beautiful woman so he can feel like he is accomplished, with the beautiful woman herself being selfish, petty, entitled, demanding and self-absorbed to an obnoxious degree.
Jacinta Bloch (Scout Taylor-Compton) — A so-called “goth girl” with a mature and sophisticated philosophy on accepting death as a healthy and necessary part of life, one that becomes disturbingly relevant as Flight 7500 makes its journey.
Raquel Mendoza (Christian Serratos) — A woman who fears that she is pregnant and doesn’t know how to handle a relationship for which she is clearly not ready.
Lance Morrell (Rick Kelly) — A suspicious businessman who carries a strange wooden box that clearly matters a great deal to him emotionally; the contents of that box trigger the spooky goings-on which transpire on the flight.
If this list doesn’t run the diverse gamut of personality types, motivations, experiences and demographic characteristics that one would likely find among any random sampling of human beings, I don’t know what would. The beauty of airplanes is that they force these types to interact in close quarters; the appeal of “Flight 7500,” if you like character-based horror movies, is that those interactions occur during a supernatural predicament that tests our protagonists to the utmost. After the plane hits a unexpected patch of turbulence, one passenger dies and others start mysteriously vanishing. It soon becomes clear that all is not what it seems — although the underlying meaning of it all doesn’t become clear until the very end.
In the meantime the audience is entertained by dialogue that takes us into the characters’ worlds rather than simply moving the plot along and scares that are executed with the type of subtlety that is all the scarier because it reveals so little. If you are either unable to appreciate finer points about the human condition or simply don’t care to do so, “Flight 7500” works quite well as a memorable fright flick. On the other hand, if you are of a mind to philosophize, “Flight 7500” provides plenty of grist for that as well.
Helmed by director Takashi Shimizu, the creator of the underrated “The Grudge” franchise, this is one of those movies that rewards viewers who watch it multiple times. It is scary, poignant and deep.