Disturbia Causes Both Laughs and Screams

Long gone are the days of Shia LaBeouf playing Louis Stevens, a bumbling, terrorizing little brother on Even Stevens from the Disney Channel. In the movie Disturbia, opening in theatres nationwide Friday, April 13, Shia takes on the role of Kale Brecht, a grieving teenager put under a three-month-long house arrest. A bit of fate combined with his forced summer at home causes him to become mixed into the murderous lifestyle of his neighbor, Mr. Turner (David Morse).

The death of Kale's father spurs an angry outburst, landing him into his predicament of summer to be spent inside his house. Fitted with a tracking ankle system that lets him go within 10 feet of his house, Kale is forced to remain inside with his TV, XBOX 360, laptop, desktop, and 30-plus gigabytes of music. When the novelty of technology wears out, Kale reverts to building Twinkie towers and spying on the neighbors.

To make his spying game a little more interesting is the addition of new neighbors, in the form of parents and their hot blonde daughter, Ashley (Sarah Roemer). If there wasn't a reason to be hateful towards his restriction of not being able to leave the confines past his own yard, there would be one now. Joined later by his best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo), they continue to spy on the surrounding houses - with particular interest on the next-door-neighbor who loves to take a swim in the pool and lay out to tan while clad in a bikini.

Through the clever use of retrieving mail that is just feet out of reach for Kale, Ashley is introduced to her neighbor. Harmless flirting ensues, creating the romantic interest all scary movies apparently need.

In a chance stop on a news channel, Kale sees the news story of a missing woman, along with a description of details pertaining to the captor. When Kale and Ronnie are caught spying by Ashley, the likeliness of Mr. Turner's banged up car and quiet lifestyle in comparison to the missing woman's described captor are revealed. Mentioned mostly as a diversion to avoid being labeled as a stalker, neither Kale nor Ronnie appear to give it too serious a thought. When Ashley expresses interest in playing their spy-game, the hormones rise - as does the tension when more and more information on Mr. Turner is exposed.

With continuous suspicions and run-ins with Mr. Turner, Kale's mother Julie (Carrie-Anne Moss), and the policeman assigned to kept watch of Kale in case he tries to leave his house (Officer Gutierrez, played by Jose Pablo Cantillo), Kale, Ashley and Ronnie are soon convinced Mr. Turner is the serial killer and are determined to get to the bottom of it. Risking the lives of themselves and others, they continue the cat-and-mouse game of trying to catch Mr. Turner in any mistake he might make.

The story moves along as Mr. Turner becomes increasingly involved in the movie, whether it is having coffee with Julie or revealing to Ashley he knows the suspicions Kale has about him. In a scene that can only be described as "creepy" for more than one reason, the movie takes a turn from funny-with-a-dash-of-scary to full-on terror (though still with some laughs sprinkled here and there).

Even though the plot seems to be a bit predictable, the comedy provided by Shia LaBeouf and Aaron Yoo make the entire movie worth it. Despite the fact thriller movies are not normally known for humor, Disturbia does well in balancing its scare tactics with laughs. Perhaps only 45 minutes or so are devoted to the disturbed-nature seen in previews and alluded to by the title, but it does not fall short of its promised creepy moments or disturbing images. As a whole, the movie turns into a well-done, well-rounded scary movie.

If you are looking for an hour and forty minutes of dark, fingernail-biting thrill, Disturbia might not be your cup of tea. But for a good movie to be entertained by, scream a bit, and laugh a lot, Disturbia hits the mark.