Disturbia

Oh my god, you've made the tower of Twinkie! Is that in a stalker's handbook somewhere? As the all mighty great and powerful Hollywood continued to mine "Hitchcock's" works for inspiration, they landed upon the idea of re-imaging "Rear Window" for a modern audience. Directed by D.J. Caruso, Disturbia actually turns out to be a solid suspense thriller. The first half of the pic is all jocular with hormonal character introductions that come with giggly slices of humour, and then there's the big shift to the thriller that most viewers were expecting, as the makers manage to pull it off with a great final act that is edge of the seat viewing. There's nothing new on offer here, the formula has been (and will for ever more be) done a zillion times, but the two fold splicing of genres works well and the makers aren't trying to fool anyone with their approach work. Cast are fine, Shia LaBeouf's follows on from his enjoyable turn in "Transformers" with this pleasing on the eye show, he shows signs of some good acting chops around some rougher edges. Sarah Roemer is solid enough, and nails down that teen love interest characterisation, whilst Carrie-Anne Moss puts a bit of meat onto the adult bones of the Mother character. Unfortunately, in what is one of the key roles, David Morse is underused, he does OK with what he has to work with, and convinces in a two layer role, but one feels his talent doesn't quite come to the fore here. Still, it's a minor complaint, for this is a solid genre entry with both halves of the film never less than entertaining - even if you might find yourself yearning for some "Hitchcock" genius afterwards. 7/10

Shia LaBeouf in a Rear Window-like thriller Five months shy of 18 years-old, a teen in suburbia (LaBeouf) finds himself under house arrest but, thankfully, an attractive new girl moves in next door (Sarah Roemer) to stir his interest. He starts to suspect that a neighbor might be a notorious serial killer (David Morse). Carrie-Anne Moss is on hand as his mother. "Disturbia" (2007) has a set-up similar to Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” and later imitations, such as “Fright Night” and “Abominable.” LaBeouf’s star was rising at the time and he’s fine as the everyman teen protagonist. Roemer’s star was also rising, but her career never panned out into anything significant. It’s perfectly fine as a psychological thriller with a one-dimensional milieu in the mold of “Rear Window” or “What Lies Beneath,” but never becomes anything more than that and is easily the least of ’em. It’s strangely dull. But, if you like the cast, give it a try. It runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in the heart of Greater Los Angeles in the town of Whittier. GRADE: C+

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John Chard

Wuchak