Disturbia (2007)

Not Great, But Fun for the Most Part

As a fan of suspense films, this little movie caught my eye when it was released in theaters April 13, 2007. Disturbia stars Shia LaBeouf as Kale, a teenager who is placed on house arrest after striking a teacher in school. His outlash was the latest on many that occured in the months following his father's death.

After his mother disables his technology (iTunes subscription & X-Box Live), he turns to spying on his neighbors to pass the time. This voyeurism leads to his paranoid thinking that one of his neighbors just might be a notorious serial killer. Stuck with an ankle monitor that alerts police every time he leaves his yard, he's stuck watching his murderous neighbor carry out what might be a series of murders. Throughout the course of the action, he develops a crush on neighbor Ashley (Sarah Roemer) and is helped along the way by his class clown friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo), his link to life outside his house-arrest restrictions.

Disturbia has some good chills and a few scenes will make you jump out of your seat. In the end, it devolves into pretty familiar territory with basic slasher-film style suspense, as Kale tries to take down his neighbor (played by David Morse) and solve the mystery without ever leaving his yard.

At the end of the film I found myself feeling as if I had just watched a longer "serial killer" episode of a typical television procedural, such as Criminal Minds or CSI. The first two thirds leave you wanting more and sets you up pretty good before the typical killer-chases-Scooby-Doo-like-gang ending. However, the film does most of this in a pretty stylish way.

Disturbia opened at #1 when it premiered at the box office with $23 million, which quickly covered it's $20 million production price tag. It stayed in the top spot for the next two weeks. Comparisons and inspirations for this film are drawn mostly from Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, and comparisons have also been struck between the movie posters for both films. The Burbs is also mentioned as an inspiration.

The most memorable aspect of Disturbia may be the casting of rising star Shia LaBeouf, who just months later would star in Michael Bay's Transformers.

([...]) August 2, 2008

Target Audience = 12 Year Olds

This film is the result of having 3 untalented and unappealing teenagers attempt to carry an interesting film project. I watched the film with a handful of friends and the collective opinion was that lead actor Shia LaBouef must be related to SOMEONE important involved with the film because there is no other reason to have cast him as the lead. Fine talent such as David Morse is absolutely wasted here and the characters of LaBeouf's Mother, law enforcement officials, and all other adults are contrived from cardboard. The plot offers ho-hum 'thrills' only to the pre-adolescent set. SKIP IT! July 27, 2008

Hollyweird drops another visual turd on us.

YAWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Disturbia starts off interesting but goes nowhere fast.
The plot is so predictable, the acting is ho hum, go through the motions, the direction does nothing to make things more intense and the bad guy couldn't scare a two year old.
I've never seen the original but I can't see how it could be any worse than this.
And would somebody please get Shia some pants that actually fit!!!
Maybe I'm just getting old but the saggy, everyone can see my boxers is just SO OVER AND STICK A FORK IN IT DONE!!!
No wonder city's across the nation are passing laws against it.
Oh yeah, the movie.
It sucked!!!
Don't rent it.
Don't watch it.
Don't buy it.
NOT RECOMMENDED!!! July 11, 2008

Be Aware !

any neighbor will have trouble if another neighbor is under "house-arrest"
"Too much time on my hands..." hmmm July 10, 2008

Disturbia-Awesome movie

This is an outstanding movie. The cast is outstanding, the plot is extremely creative and the concept is easy and fun to relate to. June 30, 2008

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