A great Horror Flick

Rating: 8/10 (6 May 2010)

First let me just say this, I haven't seen "Rear Window." I actually haven't seen any Alfred Hitchcock movies yet, but I will. I bring this up because this movie is basically a remake of "Rear Window." It has the same basic premise just brought into the 21st century. And I'm surprised this movie actually got pretty good reviews. Remaking a classic starring the kid from Transformers, sounds like it should have been hated. I really liked this movie, I would say it's probably my favorite PG-13 horror film and one of the best thrillers of the last decade.
For the negative side, it does take a while to get going, the main villain doesn't appear until about 30 minutes in. I don't like the subplot involving the neighborhood kids who torment Kale. When people are fighting the camera begins to get all shaky. And near the end it gets way, way too dark, I can't tell what is going on even when I watch it in pictch darkness.
Now Shia LaBeouf seems to be an actor who gets a lot of hate. Personally I really like him though, he's a good actor and is pretty likable. Sam Witwicky would have been a completely unbearable character had Shia not brought any likability to him. And this movie is his best film in my opinion. I like all the characters, Ronnie is really funny at times, his mom is Kary Ann Mosse, aka Trinity who is always awesome. I really like the atmosphere, the direction make the suspense high with the camera shots, music and lighting. There are some pretty good jump scares, and it does a good job of making you feel trapped in the house with Kale.
Disturbia is a great example of how to do PG-13 horror. It doesn't have much blood, or swearing. It just has atmosphere and suspense, with a few jump scares thrown in.