This is a remake of "Fright Night"

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2007)

I enjoyed this movie, it was well made... it is a story of a disturbed teen under house arrest who begins to view his neighborhood through spy glasses and finds comedy, rivalry, love, and murder! The actors were all first rate... Shia did a pretty good job, the chemistry between him and Aaron was great, and there was great chemistry between him and the beautiful Sarah. David Morse gave a first rate performance as the "killer?"... ;) This movie has everything... comedy, romance, and lots of good suspense. I see some people are comparing this film to "Rear window", and some to "Fright Night"...it has elements of "Rear Window"... but unless you've not seen Fright Night, you will not miss the scene by scene comparisons between the two movies. And now spoilers follow... First there's the cast of kids... the serious main teen who sees something amiss in his neighbor's house and his comedic side kick and love interest... all present in Fright Night. When Shia sees the neighbor "killing" someone and looks up to see him staring back at him... Fright Night... seeing the neighbor carrying a "bag" outside at the night of the stakeout... I thought to myself.. OK, this is Fright Night... I bet the next day the "killer" will come over and start cosying up to his mom... bingo! The differences are that there's no vampires, the action in this film is limited to the two houses, whereas Fright Night had more characters and more movement... Anyways, all three movies, Fright Night, Rear Window, and Disturbia were great films. It's often the case that remakes of good films disappoint, but Disturbia delivers. I'm just disappointed the script writers and director did not pay homage to the movies that this is clearly based on... at least they didn't in the special feature "making of" that I watched in the DVD, perhaps they did elsewhere.