Hi-tech ‘Disturbia’

It took me awhile, but I finally got around to watching Disturbia on HBO. It’s very slow at first, like really slow actually.

For like the first 30 minutes, you just watch Kale (Shia LaBeouf) become more and more frustrated while under house arrest. This boredom supposedly drives him to spy on his neighbors, including the hot girl next door and oh a psycho serial killer! Kale enlists his friend and said hot girl to help him figure out if the neighbor is Ted Bundy or whatever.

Kale apparently becomes MacGuyer overnight and modifies wireless home security receivers to transmit camcorder footage to his computer. No relying on binoculars in this day and age like in Rear Window. Now you got to get hard evidence! Kale can’t do it himself since he’s got the house arrest ankle bracelet problem. Thus, he talks his friend into sneaking into the neighbor’s garage to find a supposed dead body. He monitors his friend in the garage via the JVC camcorder footage being transmitted.

David Morse who plays said neighbor catches winds to all this activity and of course isn’t too pleased. At first, he’s just borderline creepy by mysteriously appearing inside Kale’s house and hitting on his mom. Then, he barges into the hot girl’s car and gives her a not so friendly and unsettling warning that he likes his privacy. But soon enough, he pulls off the mask and tries to kill everyone.

Suffice it to say, it was okay, like a grade B-. I do have to admit that there is something to the LaBeouf charm. It simply wears you down. It’s no wonder it did so well at the box office. Here’s hoping he can get the young-ins to the theater for Indiana Jones 4.

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