Very rarely does a film emerge that truly scares me. ‘Disturbia’ is one such example of a film that does however and is one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to everybody out there with even the slightest interest in the horror genre. The film has a greatly powerful beginning, an opening sequence that grabs you straight away and never during the 104 minute run time of this film does it ever let you go. It’s a punchy thrill ride of a film and always it impresses as the plot thickens with Shia LaBeouf cast in the leading role.
The thing about this film is that it’s not instantly scary and this may well be something that could put a lot of people off. What the director does do here however is that throughout the duration of this film great suspense is built, something that leads to an intense and truly frightening finish. I would say that it’s a lot like ‘When A Stranger Calls’ in its approach in that we are presented with most of the action towards the back end of the film and for much of ‘Disturbia’ we are set inside the same house and generally in the exact same room also. It is slow to progress, but you definitely get the feeling that it is all leading up to a major finish and with such an intensely powerful opening you know that this film is just waiting to explode at any given moment.
The reason that much of the film is set in the same house is that early on in the film the troubled teenager Kale (Shia LaBeouf) lashes out at his Spanish teacher with a punch to the face and as a consequence of his actions must face house arrest. He is tagged and bound with his only option to remain within the four walls of his home. As a result of his bad behaviour, Kale’s mother decides that he can not treat this as a holiday and blocks his iTunes access and shuts off his Xbox Live. Without iTunes and Xbox what better way to spend your time than to resort to good old fashioned voyeurism. Armed with his binoculars to spy on the neighbourhood activity, Kale starts taking notes of all his neighbours behaviour and one in particular has caught his attention. There appear to be some strange goings on in the house of Robert Turner from across the road and so the film unfolds as Kale gets his friends Ashley and Ronnie on-board in his attempts to get to the bottom of exactly what it is that Robert Turner is up to.
I first came across the actor that is Shia LaBeouf when I witnessed him in the American comedy programme ‘Even Stevens’. His character was extremely witty, a larger than life character who was cocky and at times confrontational, but always he was greatly likeable. He plays a similar role here and this was something that was brilliant to see. I was a great fan of his character in ‘Even Stevens’ and seeing him play such a similar role here made me warm to him immediately and as soon as the film started to get going his presence had me hooked. There’s something about his cheeky manner that makes him excellent in this role, and performing alongside him were a few faces that most certainly did not let the side down in the slightest. Aaron Yoo plays the role of best friend Ronnie, whilst Sarah Roemer was cast as love interest Ashley. Both of them are brilliant in this film meaning that none of our three key protagonists are at all disappointing and that ‘Disturbia’ therefore is onto a winning formula at least as far the acting is concerned. It is always of an incredibly high calibre and no one fails to impress here.
What I like about ‘Disturbia’ is that it takes conventions from genres such as the teenage romantic comedy, horror, crime and also thriller, and what it does is takes them all and melds them together in order to produce one of the best films that I have seen in a long while. ‘Disturbia’ progresses well and it is the tension that is created during the films 104 minute run time that makes this such a brilliant one to watch. It is well acted and all elements come together in order to make for an absolutely captivating and entirely entertaining film which is always fun to watch and never does it disappoint. It’s quite predictable and some may say that films of this sort have been done to death before, but it is done so incredibly well that none of this really matters. There are a lot of films of this type that are done badly and just don’t work, this isn’t true of ‘Disturbia’ at all and whilst its not the most original of films I found myself utterly engrossed as I watched on. Towards the end of the film I found it hard to keep my eyes on the screen, I could literally feel the tension running through me as my skin tightened and I could tell that the frown lines were developing. My brain was telling me to stop watching and yet still I continued to keep my eyes on the screen and I’m greatly glad that I did. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss a single second of this film, it really is that good.
‘Disturbia’ is the only film that I have seen from the director D.J. Caruso and now I want to see more. He had me hooked with this one and always I was fully engaged throughout the 104 minutes that this film ran. Never one to pass up the opportunity to see a good horror film, I’m glad I decided to ignore the negative reports I read and give ‘Disturbia’ a go; it’s an excellent film and one that I would wholeheartedly recommend to all. Strictly speaking I would say that ‘Disturbia’ is more a thriller than anything else, there is an early release of intensity and then throughout the film this is once more built up. The film is all psychological, there is no gore and also what is apparent is that there is no bad language; it is an entirely clean film that would perhaps be safe for all ages were it not for the great suspense which is created that would surely shock and disturb a younger audience. ‘Disturbia’ is a film that I shall happily be watching again in the not too distant future, it progresses well and I found the viewing experience to be entirely enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining.
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UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
