Review of Disturbia (2007) by Dawdlingpoet — 28 Nov 2021

This movie is, as mentioned above, a pretty typical teen suspense/thriller fare. It starts pretty slowly, making you wonder where (if anywhere) its going.

Its got the usual elements, a guy who's bored and spots a 'hot new chick' that he fancies, who he tries to get close to and that also gets caught up in what happens.

The horror, where applicable, is pretty crude too, so I certainly wouldn't say that its breaking new ground. I didn't find it all that scary for a 15 rated movie. Vacancy is a similar movie that was recently released on DVD too and I have to say, I prefer that to this.

Once the suspense or horror part really kicks in, its not too bad, thought it is pretty predictable, its just about good enough to keep you watching until the end.

There is, as you may expect, quite a voyeuristic aspect to the movie. Kale uses a/v (audio/visual) equipment in his room and Ronnie uses a camcorder to record what happens when he trespasses into the house next door, then later Kale watches the footage and at that time, its up to the viewers to guess with him, what he saw and so on.

It did seem a bit too formulaic I felt. One thing is that there just happened to be thunder and lightning on the night when everything suddenly happened. That was, I suppose, atmospheric but kind of cheesy and a bit laughable, which I guess makes sense as I did read that it was made to be viewed as part comedy, though I didn't really feel that, that worked properly.

It is suspenseful enough once it gets going, as I say but it just seemed a bit overdone, if that makes sense and it doesn't really take a genius to guess the storys outcome either. It seems a bit too daft, for example to have the main horror scenes so over the top, when I thought it was supposed to be based on a clear reality, a voyeuristic reality, that led to it, if that makes sense.

There isn't a great deal of substance behind it either, I felt, with more questions being raised from the story than answered. I know, like I say, that its supposed to be sort of comedic in that way which I guess it kind of is, maybe I take it too seriously but I didn't feel that it really worked to be honest.

I think if your a teen and you don't analyse it much, or at all, you could get a laugh out of it and enjoy it to some extent but I was left disappointed overall, I thought it was distinctly average and more teen oriented than I suppose I was maybe expecting, from the movie poster and the genre and everything.

Its marketed, I believe, as a horror/suspense/thriller but I didn't feel overly impressed with these elements, it just didn't seem to work entirely for me.

I think that teens who watch this for a bit of a laugh and the odd cheap scare, should enjoy this, especially if they haven't seen many other similar movies and won't know what to expect so much. So, for that audience or purpose, I'll give it a somewhat generous 3 star rating.

I felt that the similar suspense/horrow/thriller movie Vacancy, which was also released on DVD fairly recently, was better, not perfect at all but it was more atmospheric and suspenseful and for some reason even more believable in a way but this movie still works to some extent, though I can't help but feel that it could have been alot better.

I think that it works to a certain extent and does provide some interesting thoughts (the issue of what goes on next door and so on) and there is a part which is pretty suspenseful but it still felt a bit too weak, perhaps I have high standards in such movie, I don't know. I think im becoming a little too old for teen movies perhaps lol.

Overall, I wouldn't particularly recommend it, unless your a teen interested in it, given when I've said so far. To confirm, I do realise that there is a comedy element to it and that in a way, it doesn't take itself too seriously but I still didn't feel that it worked too well.

I felt it could have been done better and was a bit of a disappointment. Distinctly average, thats what I thought. Teens will probably enjoy it for a laugh, as a teen suspense movie to watch with friends but really its nothing more than that and I didn't feel too impressed with it but of course, make up your own mind, given what I've said, as to whether you may enjoy this. Different people have different opinions, this is only mine.