© 2008 William Ahearn
Somewhere in DJ Caruso’s 2007 film “Disturbia,” Ashley Carlson (Sarah Roemer) says to Kale Brecht (Shia LeBeouf) something to the effect of “there’s a thin line between creepy and sweet.”
While it would have been interesting to explore the difference between curiosity and voyeurism, we get instead a serial killer movie that Walt Disney seems to have directed after being unwrapped from all that aluminum foil. And Walt did some serious grave robbing on the way to the studio. Many reviewers have remarked about the similarities of “Disturbia” to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” yet there are many films being referenced in this pastiche of a movie.
The basic gist is that Kale Brecht – who accidentally killed his father in a highway crash – is disturbed and punches his Spanish teacher and that lands him home with an ankle monitor under house arrest. Ashley Carlson, a hot young girl his age, has just moved in next door. Oh, yeah, there’s a serial killer from Austin, Texas that lives behind them. And Kale’s mom – played by an utterly wasted Carrie-Ann Moss – is wandering in and out of this film looking for something to do.
This is serial killer and suburbia as cartoon and it’s odd that the damsel in distress is the mother rather than the lust object but if you’re shooting for family entertainment, I guess that’s just the way it goes.
This could have been a very cool film about voyeurism and its inherent dangers. Instead, it’s just another good idea gone south.