Disturbia (DVD, 2007, Widescreen: Sensormatic)

At one point in "Disturbia", the hero's wiseacre sidekick shouts: "Operation Stupid is officially over!" Alas, his exclamation goes unheeded; for what begins as a serviceable, Gen-Y retooling of "Rear Window" (1954) - gets more overwrought and implausible as it goes along.
The film holds tenuous credibility filled with lower-leveled cheap scare attempts. Cribbing shamelessly, and none too skillfully, from the Hitchcock Classic; D.J. Caruso's thriller is formulaic schlock that's watchable only because of star Shia LaBeouf ("A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints"). A smart and scrappy presence, LaBeouf plays his role with a dramatic conviction and sense of urgency that's otherwise MIA from the mediocre "Disturbia".
Fresh from inflicting the dire "Blood and Chocolate" on us, screenwriter Christopher Landon collaborated with scribe Carl Ellsworth (the far more enjoyable "Red Eye") on "Disturbia", which transforms "Rear Window's" disabled photojournalist hero into Kale (LaBeouf), a high school student under house arrest for three months after assaulting his Spanish Teacher.
Grieving the tragic loss of his father in a car accident, Kale has become a moody, sullen teen facing likely jail time if he violates the terms of his arrest, which restricts his movements to a 100-foot perimeter of the house he shares with his mom, Julie (Carrie-Anne Moss).
Initially, Kale spends his days surfing the Internet or playing video games, but he soon turns to spying on his neighbors out of boredom. When not focused on the lissome figure of Ashley (Sarah Roemer), the beautiful next door neighbor, Kale trains his sights on the bizarre, nocturnal habits of the reclusive Mr. Turner (David Morse).
Eventually joined by Ashley and his buddy Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) in logging Mr. Turner's comings and goings, Kale fears that the quiet, middle-aged man with the tidy lawn may be a Serial Killer. The problem is, Kale has no hard evidence linking Turner to a string of murders - just his word, which doesn't mean much, given Kale's list of priors. So he drafts Ronnie and Ashley into helping him expose Turner before he claims another victim.
After a decent, if strictly by the numbers start, "Disturbia" goes the unfortunate route of jettisoning logic and character development to boost the tension.
By and large, the characters in "Disturbia" do all the dumb, reckless things we've come to expect — and mock — in cheesy suspense flicks. And whereas "Rear Window" is a marvel of tight plotting that builds to a nail-biter of a conclusion, Landon and Ellsworth's narrative ebbs and flows, with time out for gratuitous montage sequences, towards a wildly overblown climactic showdown between Kale and Turner in the latter's suburban chamber of horrors.
Directed in rote fashion by Caruso ("Taking Lives"), "Disturbia" does serve at least one purpose: it confirms that LaBeouf has the quirky charisma and talent to carry a film.
With so much potential set into a film, it's a torrid shame "Disturbia" didn't get jam-packed with the hyper-stylized fashions of todays nail-biters. High-Potential Resulting In Average Results; See This but expect nothing more than average - and a less-effective result than cinema's former master Alfred Hitchcock.

The film begins with a teenage boy and father fishing together. Kale Brecht (Shia LaBeouf) and his father, Daniel (Matt Craven), are involved in a car accident while returning from their fishing trip, which takes Daniel's life. A year passes in which Kale remains in a consistent state of melancholy and lifelessness. One day near the end of the school year, he is reprimanded by his Spanish teacher, Señor Gutierrez (Rene Rivera) for sleeping during class. When the teacher goes on to ask Kale what his father would think if he could see him now, Kale punches him in the face and proceeds to attack him. For this assault, which under normal circumstances could lead to a year in a juvenile detention center, he is sentenced by a sympathetic judge (Charles Carroll) to a three-month house arrest period with an ankle monitor and a proximity sensor, which prohibit him from roaming beyond the boundaries of his house and yard. He then learns that one of the police officers monitoring him is the teacher's arrogant cousin (Jose Pablo Cantillo), who takes delight in humiliating and embarrassing Kale in front of others, such as one occasion where he is forced to the ground after accidentally going past the limits of the yard, while chasing a group of boys that play a prank on him.

Initially, he satiates his boredom by playing video games, but shortly after, his mother, Julie Brecht (Carrie-Anne Moss), cancels his subscriptions to the iTunes Music Store and Xbox Live, as well as cutting the power cord of his television, to force him to help around the house more. His boredom leads him to spy upon the surrounding neighborhood. One night, Kale becomes suspicious of his neighbor, Robert Turner (David Morse), who returns home in a 1967 Ford Mustang with a dented fender, matching the description given on a news report detailing an errant serial killer from Austin, Texas. Kale and his best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) begin to view the girl next door, Ashley Carlson (Sarah Roemer). She is alerted to their spying when Ronnie's binoculars collide with the window; she subsequently decides to join them.

Ronnie and Ashley dismiss Kale's suspicions initially, regarding them as based on circumstantial evidence. But they become gradually more involved when events inside Turner's house lead them to believe that he has been abducting women and murdering them there. Kale observes a woman Turner had picked up from a nightclub trying to escape the house in a panicked state. However she is later seen to leave. Thinking nothing is wrong, Ashley has a party, which Kale ruins by blasting Minnie Riperton music out his window. After Kale and Ashley have a conversation, they start making out. A scene then shows blood splattering on Turner's window, which both teens fail to see. Later, with Kale and Ashley watching, Turner is seen to drag a heavy bag to his garage, which Ashley claims to have seen blood on.

Kale insists that Ronnie break into Turner's car to get his garage door opener to continue investigating. While Turner is at the store to buy a shovel, Ronnie retrieves the garage door opener code but unfortunately leaves his cell phone behind. That night, Kale keeps spying on Turner and leaves messages on Ronnie's cell phone. When Ronnie discovers that he left his cellphone in Turner's car, they attempt to get it back by opening the garage door. They do this successfully and Ronnie finds the bag and says he can see hair in addition to blood, leading the two of them to conclude t

"Disturbia" is about a boy who watched his father die in a horribe car accident, after a fishing trip. The boy started having trouble in school and ends up striking his teacher, for comments made about his father, and then is put on house arrest. To relieve his bordom and cabin fever, he begins watching the comings, and goings, of his neighbors. He meets a hot girl, has to deal with the harrassment of a bad cop, and catches a serial killer next door. It reminded of the the great classic, by Alfred Hitchock "Rear Window", another awesome movie too!!!!!

Intrigue. Paranoia. Bordering on Voyeurism. These attributes best describe my in-flight movie from Copenhagen to Bangkok. Constantine, The Transformers Movie, and the highly anticipated fourth installment of the Indiana Jones series actor Shia LaBeouf held his own in this Thriller, as did co-stars and veteran actors David Morse (The Rock; Twelve Monkeys) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Matrix Trilogy).

Runs for about an hour and forty-four minutes and definitely not “I’m going to watch this in the theater when it comes out” material. DVD or an in-flight show is where this belongs.

fate that will keep you on the edge of your chair midway through the movie.
Starring: Sha LaBeouf, David Morse, and sexy Sarah Roemer; is about a troubled teen that probation stricken him to stay home. This is when he discover neighbor's everyday rituals, but one stands out next door to him as a possible suspect in a serial murder case. (PG-13+) Must have for your collection, I played this movie 10 times already; and it never gets old.