a simple story well retold

Rating: 7/10 (21 August 2007)

After the death of his father, Kale (LaBeouf) becomes angry and withdrawn. When he's failed in Spanish, he attacks his teacher, and is placed under house arrest for 3 months. Stripped of his mod cons (iTunes and xBox Live go out the window), he turns his attentions outside, and learns some disturbing truths about his suburban neighbourhood in a sinister take on the voyeuristic aspects of modern life.
After making some loose connections between an ongoing missing persons case and one of his neighbours, Kale enlists his friends to help him find out what's going on. However, Kale is powerless to really influence events; if he leaves his garden, the police show up. It's a tool that works to great effect in terms of creating tension, placing him in the same position as the audience. He can only watch events as they play out outside his window and hope they turn out for the best, as we can only watch events on our screens and (presumably) hope for the same thing.
There are obvious connections to Rear Window, the movie even being dubbed Rear Window for the MTV generation (although aren't we a bit past that now?), but while the original was a masterwork of suspense and doubt, Disturbia disposes of the subtlety and goes straight in for the kill with a surprisingly greasy David Morse and clichés aplenty (blood spatter, dark and stormy nights...).
Of course, it requires some suspension of disbelief (where does an unemployed teen get the money for video home security systems?) but it is nonetheless an enjoyable, well-paced thriller. Good stuff.