Disturbia (2007)

Disturbia is a 2007 American horror thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso, written by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth and stars Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, Sarah Roemer and Carrie-Anne Moss. The film follows a teenager who is placed on house arrest and begins to spy on his neighbors, thinking one of them is a serial killer.

Partly inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window,[3] the film was released on April 13, 2007.

Kale Brecht (Shia LaBeouf) and his father Daniel (Matt Craven) are enjoying a fishing trip. While Kale is driving their vehicle, Kale is talking to his mother Julie (Carrie-Ann Moss) on a cellphone. Kale gives the cellphone to Daniel. As soon as Kale looks at Daniel, they get into a multi-car accident. Kale is injured in the crash but Daniel is killed. One year later, near the end of the school year, Kale is still traumatized by his father's death. He is reprimanded about his school work by his Spanish teacher, Señor Gutierrez (Rene Rivera); and when Gutierrez mentions Kale's father, Kale attacks him. For the assault, he is sentenced by a sympathetic judge to three months under house arrest with an ankle monitor and a proximity sensor. Detective Parker (Viola Davis) explains the do's and don'ts of the system to Kale and Julie. The officer (Jose Pablo Cantillo) joyfully monitoring him follows suit by informing him that he is his teacher's cousin. Initially, he satiates his boredom by playing video games but, shortly thereafter, Julie logs out his subscriptions to the iTunes Music Store and Xbox Live and cuts the power cord of his television to get him to learn a lesson.

Kale's boredom leads him to watch the neighborhood, including the two neighbor boys who play pranks on him, his next-door neighbor Robert Turner (David Morse), and Ashley Carlson (Sarah Roemer), the new girl in town. One night, Kale becomes suspicious of Robert Turner, who returns home in a 1967 Ford Mustang with a dented fender that matches the description given on a news report of an errant serial killer. Kale's best friend Ronnie (Aaron Yoo) visits to spy on Ashley and, when they accidentally alert her to their hijinks, she joins them in spying on Turner. Kale observes a young woman Turner had picked up from a nightclub as she escapes the house in a panic, but later appears to leave the home in her car. Ashley throws a party and teases Kale, knowing he is watching. He plays music loudly, and when Ashley comes over, Kale admits that he has not only watched but has learned fine details about her by doing so. The two make out, distracting each other, while blood is shown splattering on Turner's windows.

Later, as Kale and Ashley watch, Turner is seen dragging a heavy bag to his garage, which Ashley claims to have noticed blood. Kale insists that Ronnie assist him in spying on Turner, eventually leading to Ronnie's breaking into Turner's garage with a camera. Though he confirms the bag has blood and hair in it, the garage door closes, and Ronnie flees into the house. Kale leaves to rescue him but alerts the police when he leaves his property; the police search the garage and show Kale the bag contains a roadkilled deer. Julie then goes across the street to talk to Turner, while Ronnie is in her kitchen, and Kale is watching the tape of Ronnie's running through Turner's house. Kale notices a dead body in plastic in a vent on the tape, as Turner knocks out Julie next door and then enters Kale's house, attacking Ronnie and Kale, binding and gagging Kale with duct tape. Turner reveals his plan to frame Kale for the murders before committing suicide.

As Turner has Kale writing a suicide letter to Ashley, she enters the home, giving Kale a chance to flee, as the two barricade themselves in a room, where Ashley unties Kale from his bindings. Turner tries to break the door down, and the two flee out the window. Kale trips the bracelet to alert the police, then enters Turner's home to search for his mother. In a hidden room, Kale finds evidence of Turner's previous murders, including their credentials, and a room with surgical tools and freezers of ice. Officer Gutierrez arrives at the scene, but he is killed when Turner breaks his neck. Proceeding to the basement of the house, Kale falls through the floor and finds his mother bound and gagged underneath the foundation. Turner suddenly appears from behind Julie and, in the ensuing confrontation, Kale fatally stabs Turner with a pair of gardening shears.

In the aftermath, Kale is shown having his ankle bracelet removed by the authorities for good behavior, getting back at the two boys from earlier pranks and making out with Ashley on his sofa, while Ronnie is playfully video taping them.

Disturbia

Theatrical release poster

Directed by

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Starring

Music by

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Release date

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D. J. Caruso

Christopher Landon

Geoff Zanelli

Rogier Stoffers

Jim Page

Paramount Pictures

    • April 4, 2007 (Hollywood)

    • April 13, 2007 (United States)

105 minutes

United States

English

$20 million[2]

$117.8 million