Director
D.J. Caruso
Cast
Shia LaBeouf Kale
Sarah Roemer Ashley
Carrie-Anne Moss Ashley
David Morse Mr. Turner
Aaron Yoo Ronnie
DVD Release Date: August 7, 2007
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 104 Minutes
The Movie
Kale was a good kid who was nothing more then a teenager living his life like all teenagers do: carefree. Things were going great for Kale; that is until the abrupt death of his father. That one incident, albeit a big one, turned his life around completely and not for the better.
Kale became distant from everyone, especially in school. He cared about very little and wanted to do absolutely nothing. His despondent nature eventually causes trouble for him after his Spanish teacher makes a rather rude comment and Kale lays him out. The last day of school and he ends up with house arrest for the entire summer complete with ankle bracelet. Trying to make the most of it, Kale spends all day in his room watching TV, sleeping, and playing video games. But arguments with his mother take away all that and he ends up with nothing. So he resorts to the next best thing, spying on the neighbors.
House stricken for three months was liable to drive him a bit batty, but starting his own neighborhood watch, Kale kept rather sane. Especially when it came to checking out his new next door neighbors and their beautiful young daughter Ashley. Trying to make a good first impression on the hot new girl next door isn’t easy when you can only go to the end of your yard before the cops are alerted to the residence.
But over time, Ashley and Kale get to know each other a little better and she joins in on his little act of voyeurism. Kale’s friend Ronnie is in on it too, but only because he’s bored and his best friend is locked up. Soon after, though, Kale realizes one of his neighbors, Mr. Turner, happens to be driving a vehicle matching the description of one he heard on the news blotter. A vehicle that supposedly belonged to a possible suspect in the disappearance of several women. Sure it could be a slight coincidence, but it isn’t long before more clues are brought to their attention and Mr. Turner may not be the good soul next door he appears to be.
Determined to find more out about him, the trio decide to do a bit more in depth surveillance. Kale is of course home base operations since he can’t leave the house. Ashley plays the part of the lookout making sure she knows and can relay Mr. Turner’s location at all time. Then there’s Ronnie who ends up being the crash test dummy as he is sent to do some snooping. What they don’t realize though is that Mr. Turner is a lot smarter than they anticipate; and when it comes down to it, it’ll be his word against that of three teenagers.
Disturbia is by far one of the best surprise films I’ve seen in a long time. The trailers always looked intriguing to me, but my expectations going in were for a campy teenage flick that had a few jumps and ended all happily. Never had making a wrong judgment been so satisfying. The film simply screams “creepy,” while always having a light air to it thanks in big part to Shia LaBeouf. His ability to go from the good kid to the troubled soul to the hero all in a short period of time really showcases his versatility. He is truly going to continue moving up in his acting career.
But when it all boils down to it, Disturbia is made simply by the one character who doesn’t even appear until virtually the second half of the film and that’s Mr. Turner. There could not have been a better choice then David Morse for he just has that attitude about him that makes him seem as if he could be the nicest person in the world or slice your throat in an instant. His somewhat raspy voice and towering size make him the perfect good guy with something to hide.
The film is truly so much more then the acting though because it incorporates comedy, drama, and suspense into something I never expected to be more then a watered down version of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 classic Rear Window of which it is a remake. I couldn’t have been more wrong – it is not at all a crappy remake, but rather an updated version of the original and done extremely well. With humor that will have you cracking up one minute to suspense putting you on the edge of your seat the next, Disturbia is an entertaining thrill ride that delivers in all the right places with perfect accuracy.
The Video
The film is shown in 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen and looks excellent. Colors are bright when they need to be and darker scenes give a great mood but never look too black or non-visible. Director D.J. Caruso even makes it a point in the “making of” featurette to speak about how important windows are in the film as they are the main source of light throughout the duration. And it works really well because everything can be seen in a comfortable way, but is still kept mostly in shadow to keep the mood eerie.
The Audio
The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and sounds awesome. The dialogue can be heard clearly at all times and the music blares at a good enough level to keep the mood flowing right but not overpower. The back speakers really get a good workout as this is a voyeuristic film set in a neighborhood so there are always sounds coming from every direction. And at times that is what it feels like; standing in the middle of the street in a busy neighborhood.
Special Features
Audio Commentary – Director D.J. Caruso is joined by stars Shia LaBeouf and Sarah Roemer to give their thoughts and views on the film. Caruso talks the most out of all of them but they just seem to enjoy themselves while talking about how much fun it was to shoot Disturbia. He also gives a lot of background information on the locations, actors, and certain scenes. LaBeouf is really coming around with his knowledge of acting as he still sounds like a young kid but also sounds so educated in knowing exactly what he was talking about when dealing with every aspect of filming. It really is a great commentary and well worth watching the film for what should be your second, third, or even tenth time.
Deleted Scenes – Four rather short scenes in all that wouldn’t have added much to the film had they been left in, so nothing really special to speak of.
The Making Of Disturbia – Mostly this is your basic “making of” featurette but there is a huge difference here. Caruso gives his thoughts on almost every single actor in the film and why they were chosen for the roles they played. Most of the cast also chime in on how it was to work with each other and the type of mood they were going for throughout the film. It seems there was a unanimous decision that everyone enjoyed working with David Morse most of all.
Serial Pursuit Trivia Pop-Up Quiz – A feature that more and more DVDs seem to be catching onto is the random pop-up trivia that the viewer can have appear throughout the film. Not only is there information about the film but also just any and everything in general that may come about through the different dialogue. In this film there is even a “skull counter” to keep track of the numerous amount of skulls that appear throughout the duration.
Outtakes – Wow, only a minute and a half worth of outtakes and it is a shame because the small amount included were incredibly funny.
This World Fair — “Don’t Make Me Wait” Music Video
Photo Gallery – A pretty good number of still shots from the film itself and a few behind the scenes looks. There are also some studio shots of the cast members that are extremely good as well as the movie poster.
Theatrical Trailer
Trailers – Stardust, Blades Of Glory,
The Inside Pulse
Quite possibly one of the best films of the year, Disturbia is hands down a must see for everyone. Shia LaBeouf is quickly becoming one of the best young actors in Hollywood, and this film may have been the one to truly shoot him to that next level. Everyone else delivers fantastic performances in a film that is great from start to finish. And throw on top that it is positively loaded with special features and it makes for a great DVD. Since you’ll want to check out the film more then once, the audio commentary is very informative and worth checking out for your second go round. Well, hell, when you’re done with that viewing then you might as well watch once more with the trivia track on. Endless amounts of entertainment with you watching someone who is watching someone else while someone may be watching you. Creepy isn’t it?
