Disturbia - Preview and US reaction
Preview by Jack Foley
SHIA LaBeouf may not be a name that’s familiar to everyone but come the end of 2007 he could well have emerged as one of the breakout stars of the year.
Having already impressed in ensemble drama A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, LaBeouf is also one of the leads in Michael Bay’s summer blockbuster Transformers.
And to keep himself firmly in the spotlight, he also stars in creepy new psychological chiller Disturbia, which took the top spot at the US box office after opening on the April 13 weekend (2007).
The film follows the fortunes of Kale (LaBeouf) who becomes sullen, withdrawn and troubled after his father’s death – so much so that he finds himself under a court-ordered sentence of house arrest.
His mother, Julie (Carrie-Anne Moss), works night and day to support herself and her son, only to be met with indifference and lethargy.
As the walls of his house begin to close in on Kale, he becomes a voyeur as his interests turn outside the windows of his suburban home towards those of his neighbours (David Morse), one of which Kale begins to suspect is a serial killer.
But, are his suspicions merely the product of cabin fever and his overactive imagination?
The film took a healthy $23 million upon its release to debut at the top of the weekend box office, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
It prompted Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers, to predict that 2007 would be a big year for LeBeouf.
“The person you want to be right now is Shia LaBeouf. I want to be Shia LaBeouf. I want to be 20 and have all this happening to me. It’s really great for him,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “2007 is Shia’s year. [With Disturbia he proved he can open a movie all by himself.”
And critics were similarly kind to both the young star and the movie.
The New York Times, for instance, wrote: “Instead of manufacturing elaborate, ridiculous plot twists or imposing overwrought psychological melodrama on a basically absurd premise [director] Caruso and the screenwriters opt for efficient, clever B-movie execution.”
And Hollywood Reporter described it as “Rear Window meets the iTunes era in fun, slick suspense pic”.
Variety opined: “A modest but squirmingly fun suspenser that brings Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window into the era of vidcams and cell phones, serving up hearty, youth-skewing portions of PG-13 violence and bikini-bait along the way.”
And Rolling Stone wrote: “[There’s] no sense kicking this thriller for plot holes and lapses in logic when the action, suspense and flirty sex come at such a lively clip.”
Disturbia opens in UK cinemas in September. Watch the trailer