Disturbia (Widescreen Edition)
by D.J. Caruso
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Aaron Yoo, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Morse, Sarah Roemer, Shia LaBeoufDirector: D.J. Caruso
Brand: LABEOUF,SHIA
Producer: E. Bennett Walsh
Producer: Ivan Reitman
Producer: Jackie Marcus Schaffer
Producer: Joe Medjuck
Producer: Kwame Parker
Writer: Carl Ellsworth
Writer: Christopher Landon
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1 EX; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1 EX; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1 EX; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1 EX; Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1 EX
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
Published: 2007-08-01
DVD Release Date: 2007-08-07
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: DreamWorks SKG
Movie Reviews of Disturbia (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: Gen Y vs. Boomer in the Suburbs
Summary: 5 Stars
I knew that Disturbia was loosely based on Rear Window, which is essentially a murder mystery from the perspective of a peeping tom. The protagonist is confined to a house and thus can only interpret his surroundings through sight and sound at a distance; he eventually comes to suspect that his neighbor is a murderer.
That's about all there is in common between the two films. Disturbia has to do some fancy footwork to get the concept to work today. With kids having more freedom and more information access than ever before, isolating a character is a challenge. This is true of most horror these days--ubiquitous cell phones mean it's more difficult to create the sense of isolation so critical to horror.
But Disturbia pulls it off. Kale (Shia LaBeouf) and his father Daniel's (Matt Craven) fishing trip is cut brutally short by a car accident that kills Kale's dad. Kale is emotionally isolated from his peers at school, who can't possibly understand what he's been through.
Flash forward a year later and Kale, who seemed bright and cheerful, is now an introverted, angry young man. When a high school teacher pushes his buttons, Kale responds with violence. That violence puts Kale under house arrest, physically isolating him. Thanks to his ankle bracelet, Kale can't run more than a few hundred feet without the police being alerted.
Kale's mother, Julie (the delectable Carrie-Anne Moss), wants to ensure that this house arrest is punishment. After all, how many kids would be perfectly happy sitting indoors, playing Xbox, listening to their iPod, and watching television all day? Julie revokes all entertainment privileges, leaving Kale with nothing to do but stare out the window.
This is all happening during summer vacation, so Kale's now socially isolated too, with only his friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) as company. That means no parties and no dating. Never mind that his hot neighbor, Ashley (Sarah Roemer) leaves her blinds open and is fond of taking swims in skimpy bathing suits. Or that she likes to host parties for the cool kids. Kale couldn't attend if he wanted to.
Kale's isolation is complete and now on par with L.B. Jeffries from Rear Window, who was physically disabled and a photographer to boot.
Disturbia cleverly turns the first part of the film into a teen drama. Kale has a crush on Ashley, who eventually discovers that he's spying on her and boldly comes over to visit. She too is isolated, having just moved into town--surely every teenage boy's dream of having the first shot at a hot girl!
Once the Scooby gang of Kale, Ashley, and Ronnie is established, the plot really starts rolling. Robert Turner (David Morse, looking more dangerous and creepy than ever) also moved in next store. When the murders of a serial killer with a fondness for redheads are broadcast on the evening news, Kale starts to wonder about his neighbor's late night activities.
What ensues is an exercise in YouTube-culture. Kale sets about spying on his neighbor with zeal. Ashley and Ronnie get in on the act, following Robert around and even breaking into his car and house. Disturbia asks us: when is it okay to violate someone else's privacy? And doesn't the right to privacy mean that very bad people get to do horrible things in private?
Like any good thriller, Disturbia relies heavily on its actors. LaBeouf carries the film, alternately sarcastic, voyeuristic, pathetic, bored, romantic, and angry -- just like so many teenage boys. Morse turns his sad, lonely demeanor into a creepy vibe that makes you feel dirty just listening to him.
Older thrillers had the luxury of time. With shorter attention spans and less tolerance for reality-straining conventions, once the tipping point is reached, Disturbia turns into an all out slasher-fest. And that's oddly appropriate, even cathartic, for thrillers of the millennial generation. Once the truth is on video, it spreads like wildfire.
There's a moment in the film where Robert calmly explains how he likes his privacy and why it's so important to him. And that's the moment where the generation gap is drawn in Disturbia: Robert, the silver-haired Boomer, disturbs the younger generation with his need for privacy. Kale, the Generation Y millennial, doesn't comprehend the notion at all. Disturbia is as much a thriller as it is a commentary on a culture clash between two different generations, forced to figure out how to coexist in modern suburbia.
Summary of Disturbia (Widescreen Edition)
After his father?s accidental death, Kale (Shia LaBeouf) remains withdrawn and troubled. When he lashes out at a well-intentioned but insensitive teacher, he finds himself under a court-ordered house arrest. His mother continues to cope, working extra shifts to support herself and her son, as she tries in vain to understand the changes in his personality. The walls of his house begin to close in on Kale as he takes chances to extend the boundaries both physical and emotional ? of his confinement. His interests turn outside the windows of his suburban home toward those of his neighbors, including a mutual attraction to the new girl next door (Sarah Roemer). Together, they begin to suspect that another neighbor is a serial killer. Are their suspicions merely the product of Kale?s cabin fever and vivid imagination? Or have they unwittingly stumbled across a crime that could cost them their lives?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. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Beyond Disturbia
 Why We Love Shia LaBeouf |  The Soundtrack |  Rear Window |
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