Disturbia, the movie

There is something wicked going on in the house next door. Is the shady man with the Mustang actually a mass-murderer, and how many bikinis does the new girl-next-door actually own? These are some of the central questions in the drama/thriller Disturbia.

Yet, I am not dismissing it entirely. When I sat down to watch this movie I had high hopes. Maybe it was the promotion (probably financed because both Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix trilogy) and David Morse (The Good Son) were cast), or maybe just my need to put myself through susiciously cliché teen-flicks, but in the end I was… Neutral?

The storyline is hardly new, the concept of suspiciour neighborhood activity has definitely been heard of before. However, the cast (a mix of mature talent from the grown ups and fairly fresh and not so mainstream faces in the teens) and a lot of energy put into keeping it on the mature side of the line. In the end, that’s what keeps it afloat.

The script is not all bad. In fact the standard of the movie on a whole is a lot higher than the I know what you did last summer version of teen horror I grew up with. There are a lot of loose ends and ‘oh, come on spare me’s, and the body shots of Sarah Roemer (Ashley) feel a bit overdone. Too many bad jokes, and too many potential comic moments missed. The end feels pushed and a little cliché (as we see it coming since, say, twenty minutes into the movie).

The bottom line is that this is a teen/young adult movie, and as such sure. I see sixteen year olds sitting down with their friends and a lot of popcorn to watch this during a girl’s night in or on a thursday night. A blockbuster? Far from it, and I doubt anyone ever expected that.



The most shocking part of the experience is, for me, to watch Carrie-Anne Moss in the late thirties/forty-ish mommy role. She does a good and suttle job, and together with David Morse she adds (despite of little screen time, which is actually the only way to go about this script) the needed spice. Nonetheless, I’m feeling a bit shellshocked to watch her not kick ass in a tight weird material black suits and sunglasses. It’s…Scary how normal she does, and how natural it seems.

Anyhow, suming up it’s intriguing enough to stick focused on the screen until the end, but there is hardly any mind activity required and the ten thousand gadgets teens use these days (makes you wonder how much the salaries must’ve gone up over the years) or the awkward kissandmakeout moments you can easily ignore in between kitchen-runs to make more tea (yes, tea).


Disturbia (2007) Directed by D.J. Caruso and written by Christpoher B. Landon and Carl Ellsworth.

Until next time, tutu

/tPoW Desideria