Disturbia DVD Review
Rating: 3.5 out of 4 stars
The PG13 thriller Disturbia is a teen flick that starts out with a shocking scene when the blissful perfect world of 17-year-old Kale, played by Shia LaBeouf, ends when his super cool dad is killed in a freak accident. Naturally, the grieving Kale acts out and is sentenced to serve three months under house arrest for clocking his smart ass Spanish teacher in the mouth. The ankle monitor he’s fitted with will alert the cops if he tries to leave his yard so he’s stuck in the house. His mom (played by The Matrix’s Carrie-Anne Moss) adds to the punishment by taking away his Xbox games, cable TV, and iTunes, so what’s a bored teen to do but build forts out of Twinkies and spy on the neighbors with binoculars?
Unlike the real world, no one ever closes their curtains in the Disturbia neighborhood. So from his window post Kale is able to keep tabs on the hot girl who just moved in next door, as well as the odd Mr. Turner whom Kale suspects of being a serial killer. Doesn’t every neighborhood have one of those?
His goofy buddy Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) comes by to hang out, as does the hot girl Ashley (Sarah Roemer), and the trio become alarmed about Mr. Turner (David Morse) after Kale thinks he saw Turner kill a call girl and stuff her body in a plastic bag. This calls for some Hardy Boys-type investigation, so Kale sends Ronnie over the fence to poke around while he watches from the window. Well, queue the music and ratchet up the suspense because you know what comes next!
The film is often compared to Hitchcock’s classic 1954 film Rear Window, and yes while they are quite similar, Disturbia gives its viewers a 2007 world they can relate to. Instead of Jimmy Stewart with a broken leg and playing voyeur with a telescope, Kale, who is shackled with an ankle bracelet, uses the techno-gadgetry of the internet, a digicam, a cell phone and other devices to spy on the creepy neighbor.
This is an entertaining teen film that delivers enough nail-biting pace that you quickly forget it’s rated only PG13. They don’t use blood, gore and sex here to deliver the thrills, but they do manage to keep the suspense at such a level that it works well as a homage to Hitchcock and be head-and-shoulders above the usual bad cinema found among PG13 thrillers.
The DVD includes a lot special features goodies such as a funny commentary track with director DJ Caruso, Shia and Sarah. Other features include “The Making of Disturbia”, deleted scenes, outtakes, previews, and the music video of This World’s Fair’s “Don’t Make Me Wait”.
Reviewed By: F. Kearnes
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