Disturbia

This is a movie that takes place in the middle American suburbs. This is the scary version of the Tom Hanks movie, The Burbs. Which is a must see comedy by the way! Disturbia stars Shia LaBeouf (what a name) who plays Kale, a high school student that lost his dad in a car crash a year ago. Kale was driving and saw his dad die, so he has issues.

Kale punches a teacher in the face at school near the end of the year and is ordered to spend the summer under house arrest. He is fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet that won't allow him to leave his yard, or else the cops come running. The real horror begins as his mother, Julie played by Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity/Matrix), closes his itunes account (gasp), snips the power cord to his Hi-Def TV in his room (scream!), and cancels his XBOX LIVE account (run from the theater in terror now!!).

Fortunately she didn't take his PSP! But with all his other entertainment laid to waste Kale soon busies himself with spying on the neighbors. The most interesting of which is the hot new neighbor, Ashley (Sahra Roemer). She has just moved in from the city with her parents and he quickly becomes obsessed with watching her. (who wouldn’t?). She catches him peeping with his buddy from school and oddly they all become fast friends.

I was an hour into the movie and I was like where is the psycho path? Where are the dead bodies? The Horror? Was this a scary movie or Napoleon Dynamite? They tease us with a couple of scenes where Kale discovers a few clues and starts to suspect his neighbor is a killer, but they keep us guessing till the climatic end. Until then it’s just a coming of age flick and a spoiled teenager fighting his demons (and two or three little neighborhood kids.) That’s why I give it a 3 out of 5. David Morse does a fair job of being the creepy guy next door, and the film picks up a little bit at the end, but to steal a line from the girlsonfilmshow, catch it on cable!