Movie Review: Disturbia

Clearly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, directors Caruso and Landon have brought us a slick, on-the-edge-of-the-seat thriller in Disturbia - soon to open in a cinema in your suburb. Kale (Shia LeBeouf), after losing his father in a tragic car crash, becomes withdrawn and depressed and ends up punching his Spanish teacher resulting in Kale being placed under house arrest for three months. He has to wear an ankle bracelet that will send an alarm to the police if he moves any more than 100 yards from the control unit in his house. Kale’s single mother, Julie (Carrie-Ann Moss), finds it increasingly frustrating trying to bring home a living at the same time as dealing with Kale’s increasing moroseness and demotivation. She resorts to cutting off the cable TV and his XBox, eventually forcing Kale to take an interest in the neighborhood outside the windows of his home. It’s an interesting neighborhood. A new family has moved in next door and Kale is besotted with their beautiful daughter, Ashley (Sarah Roemer). In another house is a few pre-adolescent kids who play nasty tricks on Kale, knowing he can’t leave his home, and they spend their time watching pornography on cable TV in their bedroom at night unbeknownst to their mother. And then there is Robert Turner (David Morse). As Kale watches the neighborhood through his binoculars and video equipment, he begins to suspect that Mr Turner might be a serial killer he has heard about on the TV news and who is responsible for the disappearance of a girl the police are looking for. Kale draws Ashley and one of his school friends, Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) into his voyeuristic pastime. Is Kale right about Mr Turner? Or his he just suffering from paranoia brought on by his long term confinement in his house? Disturbia is a very entertaining thriller. Caruso and Landon direct with a steady hand and the script by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth develops the tension in some very unexpected ways. The first completely unpredictable shock in the story comes after some good character development that makes us actually care what happens to the people in the story. And there is a brilliant scene involving a digicam. Disturbia is one of the most "enjoyable" thrillers to come along for a while. I’d put it in the same category as the recent The Descent. So grab some popcorn, head to the cinema, and be prepared to grip the edge of the seat for Disturbia. Don’t hold the popcorn, though. It might go everywhere when you jump out of your seat! My Rating: **** (out of 5) Positive Review ’Cool stuff. Cool movie.’ - Peter Travers/Rolling Stone Negative Review None available yet. Content Warning Sequences of terror and violence, and some sensuality AUS: M USA: PG-13 (on appeal) If you like Disturbia you might also like ...

• American Beauty
• Rear Window