Disturbia
Theatrical release poster
Directed byD. J. Caruso
Screenplay by
Story byChristopher Landon
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRogier Stoffers
Edited byJim Page
Music byGeoff Zanelli
Production
companies
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release dates
  • April 4, 2007 (2007-04-04) (Hollywood)
  • April 13, 2007 (2007-04-13) (United States)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million[2]
Box office$118.1 million[2]

Disturbia is a 2007 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and written by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth. Starring Shia LaBeouf, David Morse, Sarah Roemer and Carrie-Anne Moss, it is about a teenager who is placed on house arrest for assaulting his school teacher and begins to spy on his neighbors, believing one of them is a serial killer.

Partially inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window,[3] the film was released on April 13, 2007. It received generally positive reviews, and grossed $118.1 million against a budget of $20 million.

Plot

Troubled by the death of his father in a car accident, outcast teenager Kale Brecht punches his Spanish teacher who invokes his father while reprimanding him at the last week of school. For the assault, Kale is sentenced by a sympathetic judge to three months under house arrest, with an ankle monitor and a proximity sensor. On his first day of house arrest, Detective Parker explains the rules of the system, and the officer assigned to monitor him is also the cousin of the Spanish teacher he punched earlier.

Happy with his punishment, Kale watches television and plays video games until his frustrated mother Julie cuts his cable and internet access to Xbox Live and ITunes, as well as cancelling his access to maid service so she can strictly teach him a harsh lesson. Kale's boredom leads him to watch his neighborhood using binoculars, including his neighbors Ashley Carlson, whom he is attracted to, and Robert Turner, a single man living alone. At one point, Kale accidentally escapes the radius of where the zone of his house arrest is after being pranked and humiliated by a pair of neighbors called the Greenwood Boys, which results him being caught and made fun of by the police afterward. One night Kale becomes suspicious of Turner after he returns home in a 1960s Ford Mustang with a dented fender, which matches the description of a car given on a news report of a serial killer at large.

Kale befriends Ashley, and the pair begin to spy on Turner, along with Kale's best friend Ronnie. They observe Turner arrive home with a woman; she is seen running around his house in a panic, but later appears to leave in her car.

His anger is exacerbated by Ashley throwing a party at her house, where Kale observes Ashley flirting and socializing with popular groups from school. Jealous, Kale moves his speakers out onto the roof and blasts non party and chill music in order to disrupt the party. Ashley furiously breaks into the house to turn off the music, and Kale reveals he has been observing her since she moved in and is romantically interested in her. The pair share their first kiss.

The following day, Kale asks Ashley to follow Turner to the supermarket so that Ronnie can break into Turner's car to get the code of the garage controller. Ashley agrees, but is caught in the parking lot by Turner, who intimidates her. She stops wanting to take part in the investigation, shaken by this encounter.

Following this, Ronnie realizes he left his phone in Turner's car. He breaks into Turner's house to retrieve it, with Kale watching at a distance. Ronnie gets trapped when the garage door closes. Attempting to rescue him, Kale alerts the police upon leaving his property with the ankle monitor. The police arrive and search the garage, as Kale angrily accuses Turner of murder. However, they only find a bag containing a roadkill deer.

Julie goes across the street to talk to Turner, attempting to ask him not to press charges for Kale's breaking and entering. Ronnie reveals that he has escaped from Turner's house. Kale watches the video Ronnie made while running through Turner's house and notices something wrapped in plastic behind a vent. Upon freezing the frame and zooming in, Kale discovers it to be the corpse of the woman from earlier; proving that he was right all along. Meanwhile, Turner incapacitates Julie and holds her captive. He then enters Kale's house, bashing Ronnie on the head with a baseball bat. After binding and gagging Kale, he reveals his plan to frame him for the murders and make it appear that Kale then killed himself.

Ashley arrives, giving Kale a chance to attack Turner. He throws him from the top of the stairs before Ashley frees him from his bindings. They then jump out of the window into the pool as Turner resurfaces. Kale's ankle monitor again alerts the police. Looking for his mother, he enters Turner's home. In a hidden room, Kale finds ample evidence of Turner's previous murders, including a woman's dress and wig, indicating Turner pretended to be the woman leaving the house the night Kale and Ashley were watching.

The officer who monitors Kale's escapes arrives at the scene, but Turner snaps his neck, killing him. Meanwhile, Kale stumbles upon the decaying remains of murder victims and finds his mother bound and gagged in the cellar. Turner appears, slashes Kale in the back and pins him to a wall. Before he can murder again, Julie stabs him in the leg with a screwdriver, allowing Kale to grab gardening shears and impale Turner in the chest, killing him.

Kale is later allowed to cut his ankle bracelet off for good behavior. He gets revenge on his young neighbors, the Greenwood boys, who had pulled pranks on him previously. He then kisses Ashley on his sofa, while Ronnie playfully video tapes them.

Cast

  • Shia LaBeouf as Kale Brecht, a troubled high school teenager traumatized by his father’s death under house arrest
  • David Morse as Robert Turner, a serial murderer
  • Sarah Roemer as Ashley Carlson, Kale's girlfriend
  • Carrie-Anne Moss as Julie Brecht, Kale's mother who gives strict authority to her son
  • Aaron Yoo as Ronald "Ronnie" Chu, Kale's best friend
  • Viola Davis as Detective Parker, the detective in charge of Kale's house arrest case
  • Jose Pablo Cantillo as Officer Gutierrez, a short tempered police officer and the cousin of Kale's teacher who monitors Kale's house arrest while abusing and making fun of him
  • Matt Craven as Daniel "Danny" Brecht, Kale's father who dies in a car crash
  • Luciano Rauso and Brandon and Daniel Caruso as the Greenwood boys, a pair of neighbors who prank and humiliate Kale
  • Kevin Quinn as Mr. Carlson
  • Elyse Mirto as Mrs. Carlson
  • Suzanne Rico and Kent Shocknek as news anchors
  • Rene Rivera as Señor Gutierrez, Kale's Spanish teacher
  • Amanda Walsh as Minnie Tyco
  • Charles Carroll as Judge
  • Gillian Shure as Turner's Club Girl
  • Dominic Daniel as Policeman
  • Lisa Robin as Big Wheel Mom
  • Cindy Lou Adkins as Mrs. Greenwood, mother of the Greenwood boys

Production

Development and writing

As Christopher Landon heard an NPR show discussing Martha Stewart being on house arrest, he started thinking on what he would do in a similar condition, "already sort of being a voyeur, I figured that I would just be spying on my neighbors all the time.” He made the protagonist a teenager dealing with his father's death to reflect his own life experiences.[4][5] Landon wrote a spec script based on that, which ended up sold to The Montecito Picture Company, who brought it into development at DreamWorks Pictures.[6]

Executive producer Steven Spielberg arranged for LaBeouf to be on the casting shortlist for this film because he was impressed by LaBeouf's work on Holes. Caruso auditioned over a hundred males for the role in five weeks before settling on LaBeouf as he was looking for someone "who guys would really like and respond to, because he wasn't going to be such a pretty boy". LaBeouf was attracted to the role because of the director's 2002 film The Salton Sea, which he complimented as one of his favorite films. Before filming started, the two watched the thriller films Rear Window starring James Stewart, Straw Dogs starring Dustin Hoffman, and The Conversation starring Gene Hackman. They also viewed the 1989 romantic film Say Anything... and "mixed all the movies together".[7] LaBeouf says he spoke to people on house arrest and locked himself in a room with the bracelet to feel what the confinement of house arrest is like.[7] He commented in an interview, "...it's hard. I'm not going to say it's harder than jail, but it's tough. House arrest is hard because everything is available. [...] The temptation sucks. That's the torture of it."[7] Caruso gave him the freedom to improvise whenever necessary to make the dialogue appeal to the current generation.

Filming

Disturbia was filmed on location in the cities of Whittier, California and Pasadena, California. Filming took place from January 6, 2006 to April 29, 2006. The homes of Kale and Mr. Turner, which were supposed to be across from each other, were actually located in two different cities.[8]

During filming, LaBeouf began a program that saw him gain twenty five pounds of muscle in preparation of his future films Transformers and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.[9]

According to LaBeouf, David Morse who plays Mr. Turner, did not speak to LaBeouf or any of the other younger actors while on set. LaBeouf said, "When we finished filming, he was very friendly. But he's a method actor, and as long as we were shooting, he wouldn't say a word to us."[10]

Music

Soundtrack

Disturbia: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is a soundtrack to the film of the same name, released on March 4, 2007 in the United States by Lakeshore Records.[11]

Score

Disturbia: Original Motion Picture Score is a score to the film of the same name. It is composed by Geoff Zanelli, conducted by Bruce Fowler and produced by Skip Williamson. It was released on July 10, 2007 in the United States by Lakeshore Records.[12]

Release

Home media

The film was released on DVD and HD DVD on August 7, 2007 and on Blu-ray Disc on March 15, 2008.

In the "Making of Disturbia" section of the DVD's special features section it is revealed that LaBeouf and Morse did not have much contact off-set, so as to make the fight scenes at the end of the movie as realistic as possible.

Lawsuit

The Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust filed a lawsuit against Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks, its parent company Viacom, and Universal Studios on September 5, 2008.[13][14] The suit alleged that Disturbia infringed on the rights to Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder" (the basis for the Alfred Hitchcock film Rear Window), and that DreamWorks never bothered to obtain motion picture rights to the intellectual property and evaded compensating the rights holder for the alleged appropriation. (Ownership of the copyright in Woolrich's original story "It Had to Be Murder" and its use as the basis for the movie Rear Window was previously litigated before the United States Supreme Court in Stewart v. Abend, 495 U.S. 207 (1990).) Contrary to some media reports, the claim was based on the original Woolrich short story, not the movie Rear Window.

This claim was rejected by the U.S. District Court in Abend v. Spielberg, 748 F.Supp.2d 200 (S.D.N.Y. 2010), on the basis that the original Woolrich short story and Disturbia are only similar at a high level of generality and abstraction. "Their similarities derive entirely from unprotectible elements and the total look and feel of the works is so distinct that no reasonable trier of fact could find the works substantially similar within the meaning of copyright law."[15] Disturbia contained many subplots not in the original short story.[16][17]

After the dismissal of the copyright claim in federal court, the Abend Trust filed another lawsuit in California state court against Universal Studios and the Hitchcock Estate on October 28, 2010, for a breach of contract claim based on earlier agreements which allegedly restricted the use of ideas from the original Woolrich short story and the movie Rear Window whether or not the ideas are copyright protectable, that the defendants had entered into with the Abend Trust after the Supreme Court's Stewart v. Abend decision.[18][19]

Reception

Box office

Disturbia grossed $80.2 million in North America and $37.9 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $118.1 million, against a budget of $20 million.[2]

The film was released in the United States on April 13 and opened first at the box office with $22.2 million.[20] The film remained number one at the box office for the next two weeks, grossing $13 million and $9 million, respectively.[21][22] In its fourth week, it earned $5.7 million and finished second behind the record-breaking Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million).[23]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 70% of 178 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.30/10. The website's consensus reads: "Aside from its clichéd resolution, Disturbia is a tense, subtle thriller with a noteworthy performance from Shia LaBeouf."[24] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 62 out of 100 based on reviews from 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[25] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[26]

The film earned a "two thumbs up" rating from Richard Roeper and A.O. Scott (filling in for Roger Ebert), with Roeper saying, "This is a cool little thriller with big scares and fine performances."[27] William Thomas of Empire gave it 3/5 stars and wrote: "despite the 'edgy' title, Disturbia is content to be a multiplex-friendly teen thriller with a higher degree of slickness and smarts than most of its contemporaries."[28]

David Denby of The New Yorker judged the film "a travesty", adding: "The dopiness of it, however, may be an indication not so much of cinematic ineptitude as of the changes in a movie culture that was once devoted to adults and is now rather haplessly and redundantly devoted to kids."[29] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave it 2/5 stars, writing: "Despite the interesting set-up, the action degenerates into obvious implausibility and silliness - fatal for a suspense thriller - and boredom sets in."[30]

Accolades

Year Award Category Result
2007 Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards Breakthrough Award – Shia LaBeouf Runner-up
Golden Schmoes Awards Breakthrough Performance of the Year – Shia LaBeouf Nominated
Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Star – Shia LaBeouf Nominated
MTV Movie Awards Best Kiss – Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer Nominated
Teen Choice Awards Choice Movie: Horror/Thriller Won
Choice Movie Actor: Horror/Thriller – Shia LaBeouf Won
Choice Movie: Breakout Male – Shia LaBeouf Won
2008 People's Choice Awards Favorite Movie Drama Nominated
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Top Box Office Films – Geoff Zanelli Won
Empire Awards Best Thriller Nominated

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Executive Suite: Tom Pollock and Ivan Reitman". The Hollywood Reporter. October 3, 2011. Archived from the original on June 3, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 "Disturbia (2007)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  3. ↑ Richard Roeper; A.O. Scott (April 2007). "Disturbia reviewed on Ebert & Roeper". Ebert & Roeper.
  4. ↑ When does homage become a rip-off?, Denver Post
  5. ↑ Interview: Christopher Landon Reflects on DISTURBIA & Discusses Why We Need PG-13 Horror
  6. ↑ Anthony Kaufman (June 21, 2007). "10 Screenwriters to Watch: Christopher Landon". Variety. Retrieved January 7, 2008.
  7. 1 2 3 "Interview with Shia LaBeouf– Disturbia". Biggie. 2007. Archived from the original on December 2, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Disturbia Filming Locations". Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved June 18, 2009.
  9. ↑ Hart, Hugh (July 1, 2007). "Shia LaBeouf's Transformation". SFGate. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  10. ↑ Randall, Laura (April 13, 2007). "Shia LaBeouf's hot, and he's caught Spielberg's eye". Inquirer. Retrieved May 14, 2023.
  11. ↑ Rovi. "Disturbia [Original Soundtrack]". AllMusic.com. Rovi Corp. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved December 11, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Disturbia [Original Motion Picture Score]". AllMusic.com. Rovi Corp. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  13. ↑ Edith Honan (September 8, 2008). "Paramount ripped off Hitchcock Classic". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 11, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  14. ↑ Chad Bray (September 9, 2008). "2nd UPDATE: Trust Files Copyright Lawsuit Over Disturbia". CNN Money. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Abend v. Spielberg decision" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  16. ↑ "The "Rear Window Case" Gets a Semi-Sequel". blog. Hernandez Schaedel & Associates, LLP. Archived from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Rear Window copyright claim rejected". BBC News. September 22, 2010. Archived from the original on July 17, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  18. ↑ Gardner, Eriq (October 29, 2010). "Decades-Old Legal Battle Over 'Rear Window' Is Back On". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on December 19, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Complaint" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
  20. ↑ Germain, David (April 15, 2007). "DreamWorks No. 1 again with 'Disturbia'". USA Today. Associated Press. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  21. ↑ Adler, Shawn (April 23, 2007). "'Disturbia' Holds #1, But 'Hot Fuzz' Tastes Its Own Victory". MTV News. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  22. ↑ Adler, Shawn (April 30, 2007). "'Disturbia' Does It Again — Better Luck 'Next' Time, Nic Cage". MTV News. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  23. ↑ Adler, Shawn (May 7, 2007). "'Spider-Man 3' Busts Box-Office Records With Amazing Opening Weekend". MTV News. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 22, 2013.
  24. ↑ "Disturbia". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  25. ↑ "Disturbia (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. CBS. Archived from the original on September 14, 2007. Retrieved September 27, 2007.
  26. ↑ ""Disturbia" leads crowded pack at box office". Reuters. The Hollywood Reporter. April 17, 2007. According to polling by Cinemascore, 58% of the audience was under 24. And moviegoers, 57% of whom were female, awarded the film a solid A-minus rating.
  27. ↑ Richard Roeper; A.O. Scott (April 2007). "Disturbia reviewed on Ebert & Roeper". Ebert & Roeper.
  28. ↑ Thomas, William (July 27, 2006). "Disturbia". Empire. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
  29. ↑ Denby, David (May 7, 2007). "Movies". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on September 15, 2020. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
  30. ↑ "Disturbia". the Guardian. September 14, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
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