Disturbia (2007)

Director:

D.J. Caruso

Writers (WGA):

Christopher B. Landon (screenplay) and
Carl Ellsworth (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

13 April 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

Every killer lives next door to someone

Plot:

A teen living under house arrest becomes convinced his neighbor is a serial killer.

Plot Keywords:

Neighbor | House Arrest | Arrest | Serial Killer | Killer

Awards:

4 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Shia LaBeouf	...	Kale
Sarah Roemer	...	Ashley
Carrie-Anne Moss	...	Julie
David Morse	...	Mr. Turner
Aaron Yoo	...	Ronnie
Jose Pablo Cantillo	...	Officer Gutierrez
Matt Craven	...	Daniel Brecht
Viola Davis	...	Detective Parker
Brandon Caruso	...	Greenwood Boy
Luciano Rauso	...	Greenwood Boy
Daniel Caruso	...	Greenwood Boy
Kevin Quinn	...	Mr. Carlson
Elyse Mirto	...	Mrs. Carlson
Suzanne Rico	...	News Anchor
Kent Shocknek	...	News Anchor

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 on appeal for sequences of terror and violence, and some sensuality.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES | Dolby Digital EX | SDDS

Certification:

Ireland:15A | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-15 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Singapore:PG | Germany:16 | USA:R (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Italy:T | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Sweden:15 | France:-12 | Chile:14 | Brazil:14 | South Korea:12 | Malaysia:U | Philippines:PG-13 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba) | Norway:15 | Denmark:15 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:PG-13 (re-rating on appeal) (certificate #43260) | South Africa:13V (theatrical rating) | South Africa:16LV (DVD rating) | New Zealand:M | Iceland:14

Filming Locations:

Bishop, California, USA

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

The script was written in the 1990's and was optioned. The original studio let the option expire after hearing about Christopher Reeve's remake of Rear Window (1954) (Rear Window (1998) (TV)). It wasn't till 2004 that script was rewritten and sold.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Kale's Xbox Live account gets closed, he tries to log back in and gets a "ACCESS DENIED" message. But if his account was closed, he should've gotten a log in error message, saying that his username or password was incorrect.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Kale: Do you think he sees us?
Daniel Brecht: No, he can't see us. But trust me, he can feel us watching.

Movie Connections:

Features Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2005) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Next to You

Disturbia

I had seen the trailer of the movie and found it appealing. Later I found that it is somewhat similar to Rear Window – the Hitchcock movie and is on the same lines; that made me go and see this movie.

It is the story of a young boy Kale (Shia LaBeouf) who is sentenced to 3 months of house arrest and finds ways to peep through his windows in neighbors' lives – one, the recently moved neighbor girl Ashley (Sarah Roemer) and another middle aged guy Mr.Turner (David Morse) who our young boy and his friend Ronnie (Aaron Yo) suspects as a killer. Is Mr.Turner a killer? Or this is just paranoia of our young gang? The Director D.J.Caruso – who has specialized in crime thrillers in past 4-5 movies, does a very decent job in keeping the audience engrossed in the narrative and unfolds the story slowly and nicely. The movie presents many aspects of drama, and takes us through a ride of varied sub-plots with good interest. There are a couple of minor annoying scenes – like the love aspect (quite unnecessary I thought, but may be required for today's young audiences) and the usual cliché of thriller movies. But overall the movie is entertaining.

Shia LaBeouf is not a great actor, but does a decent job, so does the Sarah Roemer, Aaron Yo and David Morse.

The camera work is excellent because it shows only that much which would make you eager to peep beyond the camera frame to see what is there – and that keeps you engaged. The music is okay.

Yes, the movie is not close to the classic Rear Window, but I should say that I liked the movie.

(Stars 6.75 out of 10)