Disturbia – Rating 3 out of 5

Disturbia – Rating 3 out of 5

“Alfred Hitchcock fans may experience déjà vu upon exposure to this voyeuristic thriller. That’s because director DJ Caruso (The Salton Sea) and co-writer Carl Ellsworth (Red Eye) use Rear Window as a jumping-off point before cherry-picking from more recent scare fare, like The Blair Witch Project. In the prologue, 17-year-old Kale (Shia LaBeouf, Holes) loses his beloved father to a car crash. A year passes, and he’s still on edge. When a teacher makes a careless remark about his dad, Kale punches him out, and is sentenced to house arrest. After his mom (Carrie-Anne Moss, Memento) takes away his Xbox and iTunes privileges, the suburban slacker spies on his neighbors to pass the time. In the process, he develops a crush on Ashley (Sarah Roemer, The Grudge 2), the hot girl next door, and becomes convinced that another, the soft-spoken Mr. Turner (David Morse, The Green Mile), is a serial killer. With the help of the flirtatious Ashley, practical joke-playing pal Ronnie (Aaron Yoo), and an array of high-tech gadgets, like cell-phone cameras and digital camcorders, Kale sets out to solve a major case without leaving his yard (a feat that would prove more challenging for a less affluent sleuth). In the end, it’s pretty familiar stuff, but there are plenty of scares once Turner realizes he’s being watched, and rising star LaBeouf, who next appears in Michael Bay’s Transformers, makes for an engaging leading man–despite his character’s propensity for slugging Spanish instructors.”

Interesting premise and some promising make this a pretty decent late night movie to watch. Actually the best part of the movie is the comic antics of Ronnie (Aaron Yoo). He adds some comedic life that balances the completely unnecessary and overdone relationship Kale develops with Ashley. The relationship angle is fine, but the way it’s done slows down the movie. Considering she is never becomes the damsel in distress it seems a little much.

Things really do pick up once Mr. Turner gets on the scene. David Morse does a great job of playing the misleading neighbor who seems to be just one step ahead of everyone.

It’s not really a thriller since we know Mr. Turner is guilty the whole way through. Not too much tension is built up since the movie follows a pretty predictable pattern. It would have been a better angle to try and build Kale up to be paranoid by being cooped up in the house all the time and seeing things that really aren’t there. There is a small amount of this, but it could have made the movie much more entertaining for Kale to be the only one who sees the danger.

It’s an entertaining movie with some plenty of creeps coming from Mr. Turner as he acts perfectly calm and rational and has an explanation for everything Kale has seen. He doesn’t get rattled and keeps his wits about him. The final “showdown” isn’t too bad and has a few jumps in store.

Overall not a bad movie, certainly nothing to keep you up at night, but still fun.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Secret Window – Rating 3 out of 5
• When a Stranger Calls – Rating 2.5 out of 5
• Paranormal Activity 2 – Do we really have to do this?
• The Hamiltons – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
• Reincarnation – After Dark Horror Fest – 8 Films To Die For
• Time to bring out the scary movies
• The Devil as told to us by M. Night Shyamalan
• 1408 – Stephen King
• Imprint – Masters of Horror – Rating 2 out of 5
• Saw II