Suburban Hitchcock?
Disturbia is No Mere Rip-Off

It doesn't take a film fanatic to see the similarities between Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Rear Window and the new DreamWorks teen chiller Disturbia. Watching the trailer for the film, I immediately compared the house arrest of the central character to the cast immobilizing James Stewart. The poster for the film, with the red-tinted binoculars gazing out at you, makes no secret that the story features voyeurism as a central theme. Even so, Disturbia offers a different perspective on an old idea.

Disturbia
Mr. Turner (David Morse) hides an unusually hefty bag of trash in his garage in the suburban thriller Disturbia. (DreamWorks SKG, 2007)
Directed by: D.J. Caruso
Written by: Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth, based on a story by Christopher Landon
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, Carrie-Anne Moss, David Morse, Aaron Yoo, and Jose Pablo Cantillo

Rated PG-13 (on appeal for sequences of terror and violence, and some sensuality)
Running time: 104 min.

FilmGuru's Rating : 6 out of 10.

Disturbia is the story of a boy sentenced to three months house arrest following an incident at school. Shia LaBeouf plays Kale, a likeable but troubled teen who is going through a rough patch in his life. He lost his father in a car accident the previous year and hasn't quite recovered emotionally from the incident.

During his house arrest, Kale discovers the downside to house arrest. He gets depressed, then goes a bit stir crazy. Finally he comes to accept his place by watching his neighbors as "reality television but without the television."

Eventually, his obsession and confinement take his paranoia into overdrive, and he thinks that his neighbor, Mr. Turner (David Morse) may be a serial killer. With the help of his best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) and his new neighbor Ashley (Sarah Roemer), he begins a stakeout that crosses the line between neighborhood watch and invasion of privacy.

LaBeouf is charming as the troubled teen. The irony here is that Kale is anything but trouble. It's clear from early in the film that he is a good kid, but he's going through a rough patch. There's no reason to assume that he's dangerous -- to himself or others. Roemer is around for eye candy, and does little but frustrate the adolescent boys in the film. The best performance in the film is undoubtedly Morse, who has a history of playing shady characters that straddle the fence between good and bad. He plays Turner with the same vague and veiled manner that makes him unreadable.

Aside from the incidental updates in technology, what makes Disturbia so different from Rear Window is the tone of the movie. This is a teen movie, with a teen perspective. The story relies heavily on the immaturity of the characters to do the unthinkable. It plays well, both in their fool-hearty need to play amateur sleuths and in their unrealistic expectation that they will not get caught.

The film doesn't build a lot of suspense. The major plot points play out rather predictably. There aren't a lot of twists. But this does not prevent the story from moving forward through a thrilling, exciting series of events. On the other hand, it varies from the recent trend in horror to emphasize torture and bloodshed. The few moments of violence are relatively gore-free, and an amazing number of characters actually survive through to the end.

Disturbia is an intense movie geared for a generation that hasn't seen Rear Window, and who would probably think it moves too slowly even if they did. For me, it won't replace the classic. Nevertheless, it does offer a good dose of cinematic frenzy.