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Watching movies these days is certainly easier than it used to be; a subscription to Netflix now provides access to dozens of movies. In the past, one had to pay exorbitantly for the privilege of obtaining a DVD copy, or physically drive to a video rental store to hand over money and rent a movie. Movies with low-quality budgets, terrible timing, or weird titles ended up becoming unwatchable and overcrowded the bargain bin at stores. Derivative garbage sculptures that cost four dollars to own and widely circulated. You had to pay in 2020, but these days, you can trade your boredom as currency for interest provoking and more often than not, inappropriate views.
And that is how I ended up scrapping a thirteen year itch and watching Disturbia. For the record, I don’t regret it at all.
The movie is about a kid named Kale, played by everyone’s favorite Shia Labeouf, who is on house arrest for beating up his Spanish teacher, Rene Rivera. The guy deserved it. He was mocking Kale’s father who passed away not too long ago. With nothing to do and no Xbox to relieve the boredom, courtesy of his furious mother Carrie Anne Moss, he starts creeping out his windows. During this period of ultra creep, he makes the acquaintance of Ashley, his new hot neighbor friend, as well as his neighbor Mr. Turner played by David Morse, who is quite possibly a serial killer.
What we have here is pretty much a nu metal rendition of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. This time, James Stewart’s broken leg is substituted with a house arrest ankle bracelet. Raymond Burr’s dysfunctional husband character is also changed into a sleazy-ass drifter with a hoop earring, played to perfection by David Morse. Hence, Disturbia works with a rather infallible formula. When it is restanged window, all the youths will have something to look forward to, and for the rest, there exists a pretty captivating thriller. At the end of the day, everyone wins, especially the D.J. Caruso, the director of the movie.
So Disturbia is kind of good by design? It follows an already successful skeleton and adds details here and there such as Mr. Turner’s kill cave which I completely did not understand the geography of What so ever. Was that thing UNDER his house? Why did he keep Kale’s mother in the decaying corpse room instead of the baffling surgical room? Had that room been part of the house already? Because he just moved into the neighborhood Turner is a head scratcher, but I don’t care. It’s like having a distinct flavorful spice such as a habanero pepper on an otherwise bland ass taco.
If he didn’t exist and there wasn’t the need to distill violence and terror in human form, it wouldn’t work. Great antagonists are often a dark twisted rendition of our hero and indeed Mr. Turner is.
Why do people mostly ignore the movie ‘Disturbia’ today? It had a great run in the theaters and made over 117 million, which is almost six times its budget, so why is it forgotten? The answer is blended into three points: 1) The year 2007 was exceptional in terms of video consumption because there were blockbuster hits available everywhere. 2) Video stores were starting to die down, and 3) the following year, Rihanna released her mind-blowingly catchy song Disturbia and the world forgot about the movie. The movie was forgotten because the song is just that good.
So here is the thing: ‘Disturbia’ is entertaining and can be appreciated by many. It is not thought-provoking and it captures everything that made “Rear Window” one of a kind, but it does the complete illusion very convincingly. A nu metal Rear Window is an incredibly niche idea, and one that didn’t do so well surviving the test of time. However if it was released in 1998, it would have been a more fondly remembered film. All in all, if you are looking for an entertaining experience that serves as a competent take on a timeless movie, then ‘Disturbia’ fulfills that criteria and would take you back to when the sophistication level in filmmaking was relatively lower.
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