Interesting, but it takes the (very) easy way out.

Rating: 6/10 (19 August 2008)

An intriguing premise is a must for any good thriller. Whatever bizarre set of rules or restrictions the film can set on it's protagonist, as long as they aren't outright ridiculous, can propel him/her/them on a wild ride. "Disturbia" starts like that with a great opening act that sets up an interesting situation: a housebound high schooler is convinced that his neighbor is a serial killer. He is on probation and on house arrest so he gets his friend and another neighbor to help him investigate. Obviously this is virtually a remake on the Hitchcock classic "Rear Window," but the fresh setting and reworked scenario make way for some great suspense as doubts about characters and situations are teasingly probed along the way.
However, this clever and tense setup leads to a tense, but highly dull overdone conclusion. Thus, the set up is reworked, but the end is all the same, but with more violence than Hitchcock ever showed. All doubts are simply erased and the characters and situations suddenly become black and white. It's a shame that a film goes through obvious and noble attempts at showing something new, but then reverts back to the same old cliché for the end. It would have been better the other way around with a clichéd start and an unexpected and unpredictable ending. That way there would have been a good pay-off. But this is just taking the easy way out and that's a shame. --- 6/10
BsCDb Classification: 13+ --- violence