updated version of Rear Window for the young crowd

Rating: 8/10 (5 November 2011)

Strictly speaking, this isn't a remake of Hitchcock's fabulous Rear Window; rather, it takes the same basic idea and runs with it. In Disturbia, a young man, Kale, (Shia LaBeouf) under house arrest for punching out his Spanish teacher, is bored out of his mind and starts spying on his neighbors. He becomes convinced that one of them (David Morse) is a murderer.
Where Hitchcock depended on building suspense, Disturbia uses action for both humor and thriller elements. Kale figures out just how far he can go before his ankle device goes from green to red, meaning the police show up, and this becomes important to the story. His friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) does Kale's leg work (i.e., breaking and entering and rifling through the neighbor's car). Kale also makes use of a webcam.
The love interest here is the pretty Sarah Roemer, another neighbor Kale spied on.
Disturbia has some very exciting scenes and some fun ones, and because it's based on a solid story, it holds interest. The young characters are familiar and likable to anyone who deals with teens, and the acting is very natural. As the suspected neighbor, David Morse, who used to play good guys, makes a very effective sinister neighbor.
I really liked this film and I highly recommend it. It wasn't made for my age bracket but nonetheless, I found it very entertaining and well done. Don't make the mistake of comparing it with Hitchcock. There was only one Hitchcock, and this is very different.