Disturbia (2007)
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 172
Fresh: 117 | Rotten: 55
Aside from its clichéd resolution, Disturbia is a tense, subtle thriller with a noteworthy performance from Shia LaBeouf.
Average Rating: 5.9/10
Critic Reviews: 41
Fresh: 27 | Rotten: 14
Aside from its clichéd resolution, Disturbia is a tense, subtle thriller with a noteworthy performance from Shia LaBeouf.
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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 1,383,241
My Rating
Movie Info
Salton Sea director D.J. Caruso travels from the shore to the suburbs for this suspenseful tale of a high-school senior who suspects that his neighbor is a notorious serial killer. Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is a high-school senior who has yet to come to terms with the fact that his father is gone, the tragic victim of a fatal accident. As Kale's mother (Carrie-Anne Moss) struggles to pay the bills by picking up extra shifts at work, her son's behavior grows increasingly erratic. When an altercation at
Cast
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Shia LaBeouf
Kale Brecht -
David Morse
Robert Turner -
Sarah Roemer
Ashley -
Viola Davis
Detective Parker -
Carrie-Anne Moss
Julie Kate's Mom -
Aaron Yoo
Ronnie -
Jose Pablo Cantillo
Officer Gutierrez -
Matt Craven
Daniel Brecht -
Brandon Caruso
Greenwood Boys -
Luciano Rauso
Greenwood Boys -
Daniel Caruso
Greenwood Boys -
Kevin Quinn
Mr Carlson -
Suzanne Rico
News Anchors -
Kent Shocknek
News Anchors -
Rene Rivera
Señor Gutiérrez, Seño... -
Amanda Walsh
Minnie Tyco -
Charles Carroll
Judge -
Gillian Shure
Turner's Club Girl -
Dominic Daniel
Policeman -
Lisa Tobin
Big Wheel Mom -
Cindy Lou Adtkins
Mrs Greenwood -
-
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All Critics (173) | Top Critics (41) | Fresh (129) | Rotten (58) | DVD (43)
You'll jump as if you've had electrodes attached to your sensitive parts; but when your nerve endings stop tingling, your brain won't remember a thing.
Top CriticThis is a cool little thriller with some big scares and fine performances.
Closing on a surprisingly prudish, prosurveillance note, you don't have to wonder if lessons have been learned. Downloaded, maybe. Not learned.
Offsetting the chilly voyeurism is a viable teen romance and an appealing sense of humor. Though there are occasional lapses in logic, Disturbia is consistently suspenseful and entertainingly disturbing.
While Disturbia does nothing to advance or honour Hitchcock, the movie succeeds on its modest terms.
For the most part a taut, careful thriller that emphasizes suspense over blood and gore.
Unfortunately, what starts out as a rounded and intelligent thriller soon turns up the silly for an OTT finale that betrays the tense and well-plotted build-up.
Disturbia is a thoroughly enjoyable film that conforms to the horror genre's conventions, yet always feels fresh thanks to a combination of well-judged performances, cleverly structured writing and suitably claustrophobic direction.
A feature-length alt-rock-soundtrack shill that merges with violin strains that would make even Bernard Herrmann blanch.
...an unabashedly high-concept premise that's primarily employed to surprisingly positive effect...
Disturbia is a well-made, very entertaining thriller.
In addition to borrowing the idea behind Rear Window, Disturbia pays homage to Hitchcock in its sense of pacing, as well, in its use of the Hitchcock's signature slow build.
Like its attractive leads, director DJ Caruso's smart teen thriller may be self-conscious, but it is undeniably appealing,
Voyeuristic teen Rear Window update.
As a thriller, this is mechanical and predictable - barely one-step away from cookie-cutter formulaic - and yet the film actually works up a decent amount of genuine feeling, thanks to the cast of characters.
With all the promise to be the year's best teen scream flick, Disturbia gets lost while overly trying to please its demographic.
Disturbia takes it's time setting up the thrills and Shia LaBeouf actually acts like a high schooler.
An baleis stin akri ta almata tis plokis kai tis trypoyles poy kseprobaloyn deila edo ki ekei, leitoyrgei mia hara san kalogyalismeno efibiko thriler, poy toylahiston kanei tin prospatheia gia na se koroidepsei poylontas hip moyri, se antithesi me alla po
A limp teenage by-the-numbers version of Rear Window.
One of the big sleepers of the year.
The parts of the film that work...are surprisingly due mostly to the presence of Shia LaBeouf.
Audience Reviews for Disturbia
Super Reviewer
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- Ronnie: [breaking into a car] This is a lot harder than it looks on the Internet.
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- Ronnie: [filming Kale and Ashley kissing] Soon to be the most popular video on YouTube.
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- Kale Brecht: Do you think he sees us?
- Daniel Brecht: No, he can't see us. But trust me, he can feel us watching.
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- Ronnie: Dude you havta see this I got like my whole great escape on video!
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- Ashley: Where are the coffee and doughnuts? You can't have a stakeout without coffee and doughnuts.
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- Kale Brecht: I'm having a kid. Your little boy's growing up, I got a girl pregnant, now I gotta go visit her. She lives in Reno, I don't know how I'm gonna get there. Probably have to take Mom's car. But, we're gonna live together. We're gonna live in the trailer park. Her name's Shirley, she's real great.
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Latest News on Disturbia
November 1, 2010:
The Rear Window War Isn't OverDespite a court verdict that seemed to lay everything to rest, the decades-long court battle over...
September 9, 2008:
Disturbia Sparks Infringement LawsuitThe strong similarities between "Rear Window" and "Disturbia" have prompted a lawsuit against...
May 6, 2008:
2008 MTV Movie Award Nominations AnnouncedIt's almost time to hand out some golden popcorn -- the nominations for the 2008 MTV Movie Awards...
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Swap out an injured photographer for a troubled kid with a past and a house-arrest leg-brace and you get partly the same claustrophobic and helpless feel that "Rear Window" injected into audiences. Shia LaBeouf is this kid and he gives off possibly his best performance in his entire career. He's convincing, emotional, and downright explosive.
But let me get this out of the way: "Disturbia" is no "Rear Window"... at all. "Disturbia" may have taken the similar narrative, but in no ways does "Disturbia" execute in the same fashion or quality. The writing's off, the tone is geared more towards the teenage crowd, the storytelling isn't as suspenseful, cinematography is done in mainstream Hollywood fashion, and it has a clichà (C)d ending that interrupts the tension it built up. Now unlike "Rear Window", "Disturbia" decides to throw all the mystery aspects of its narrative out and make the suspense and tension aspect its focal point. And in many ways, "Disturbia" delivers. Despite the fact that it was fixated to bring a tense-filled experience, "Rear Window" is just a more suspenseful film that so happened to also be an intriguing character-piece, an engaging mystery, and a thought-provoking film. Despite high regards to the classic, "Disturbia" is not a bad film on its own nor is it only fixated on suspense. There is a subplot that involves LaBeouf's character's father and the subplot is absolutely riveting for the first few minutes. But this subplot is only a device that is used to hook the audiences with the character and the film. In no ways does it characterize with the main story arc by its finale. I asked myself, "So what was the point of that part of the story?"
"Disturbia" gets a lot of things right. Unfortunately for the film, its overshadowed by a whole 'nother beast named "Rear Window". Like I said before, this is not a bad film, but it evidently shows how the quality of mainstream Hollywood filmmaking has declined from the time "Rear Window" was made. "Disturbia" is a perfect representation of what a 21st century film is like; "Rear Window" is a perfect representation of what a 20th century film is like. The result? "Disturbia" is clearly the inferior film but still worth a watch.