Film Guide

Disturbia is a modern adaptation of Hitchcock’s Rear Window starring boy wonder Shia LaBeouf (Transformers).

After loosing his father in a car crash that he blames himself for, Kale (LaBeouf) finds it difficult to fit into normal society and is prone to violent outbursts. The final straw happens when he punches his Spanish teacher and is place under home detention for the Summer Holidays.

As if being stuck inside for 3 months has little appeal, Kale’s Mum decides that the only way to motivate him is to suspend his Xbox Live and Apple iTunes accounts, as well as severing his cable TV. To prevent cabin fever, Kale starts spying on his neighbours, motivated mainly by the arrival of new neighbours and their good-looking daughter.

Not content with just perving at his bikini clad neighbour, Kyle become fixated on his other neighbour who he is convinced is a mass murderer.

Of course, being a convicted felon on home detention with an ankle bracelet preventing him form going anywhere, getting any evidence or any one to believe in him is a hard task to say the least.

Fortunately Kale’s best friend comes to the rescue, as does, surprisingly, the new neighbours daughter Ashley.

As predictable as it is, especially if you’ve seen or heard about Rear Window, Disturbia does run as a fairly decent thriller, especially as it’s essentially aimed at the teen market.

The casting is good, and the acting suitable for a teen movie – even if LaBeouf does take a while to warm to his role.

Food for thought
A wise man, though he be a slave, is at liberty; though a fool rule, he is in slavery. – Saint Ambrose

Reviewed by: Jonathan Read.
Rating: M – Contains Medium Level Violence.
Duration: 100 mins.
Genre: Suspense & Thriller, Suspense.
Actors: Carrie-Anne Moss, David Morse, Shia LaBeouf, Matt Craven, Aaron Yoo, Jose Pablo Cantillo , Sarah Roemer.
Director: D.J. Caruso.
Distributor: Roadshow
Release Date: Available Now.