The episode of Revisited covering Disturbia was Written, Narrated, and Edited by Kier Gomes, Produced by Tyler Nichols and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.
The suburbs can be a scary place. The quiet and seemingly peaceful neighborhoods can sometimes be the living place of the very worst of secrets. You’re neighbors all seem to keep to themselves but the lonely old man across the street may just be hiding something sinister only a few feet away from where he waters his lawn. After all, the scariest of things are often found in the least likely of places, which is partially what makes them scary in the first place. And in the case of 2007’s Disturbia (watch it HERE), nothing will send you into a deeper spiral of fear and paranoia than being trapped in close proximity to the neighborhood boogeyman- and what’s worse is… nobody believes you.
Disturbia is a horror film masquerading as a psychological thriller- it stars Shia LaBeouf as Kale, a suburban teenager who’s just been placed on house arrest after assaulting his Spanish teacher. See, Kale is on a path of destructive behavior after losing his father in a car accident months prior- leaving he and his mom (played by Carrie-Ann Moss) to pick up the pieces and attempt to move on. But when Kale’s boredom leads to a nasty habit of spying on his neighbors, he begins to suspect the sweet old man living next door of being a monstrous serial killer. This leads Kale, his BFF Ronnie, and his new squeeze, a new neighbor named Ashley to investigate the disappearances of local women while also doing their best to adhere to Kale’s house arrest parameter.
The movie is similar in tone and plot to something like Rear Window, while also having a bit of The ‘burbs in there for good measure. It’s really a story about the all-too-real threat of Stranger Danger. The filmmakers have stated that Disturbia is loosely based on Hitchcock’s Rear Window and really leans into the themes of Voyeurism, which (according to writer Christopher Landon) he kind of already was in his own life. He began thinking about what he would do if he were under house arrest. How he may find himself becoming invested in the personal unseen lives of his neighbors as a result of his boredom. And as such, he wrote the story more to reflect what a kid on house arrest might do, as opposed to spending the story’s time on blood and guts.
See, rather than focusing on the crimes of the suspected Killer, Mr. Turner, the film instead stays focused on Kale and his growing anxiety as he unravels the truth. It forgoes the stabbing and gore and on-screen kills for the heart-pounding and breathy slow burn that forces you to sit with your suspicion. It tries to contrast the pleasant and unassuming suburban safe zone against the dark and twisted reality of the story. And to make matters worse, Kale being on house arrest makes him sort of a sitting duck when Turner begins to suspect Kale and his friends of prying in his personal affairs. The character of Kale is kind of your classic Shia LaBeouf mid-2000s kid, but with enough layers to feel somewhat interesting. The character is clearly angsty and Lebeauf portrays that entitled punk-ass teen role pretty seamlessly. But Kale also has insecurities and crippling pain and guilt inside of him that makes him like a bit of a tragic hero. He’s basically a good kid going through a hard time. Now, what makes him interesting to me is that he’s almost like the boy who cried wolf. His mom, his caseworker, the police, even (at times) his own friends, have grown to doubt Kale and hold his behavior against him. This is sad because Kale REALLY only felt fully accepted and understood by his late father. Kale’s anger and lashing out comes from him not knowing how to communicate what he feels- but then when Turner begins harassing Kale and his friends, nobody will believe him- nobody understands.
The true horror of the film isn’t in the few and far between acts of violence that we see from the villain, but instead we’re firmly taken back to our childhood and the feeling of being afraid and helpless with nobody there to hear you out.
Shia LaBeouf took the role seriously with a commitment to portraying what the mind of a 17 year old kid on house arrest would feel like. Even stating that it was similar to prison and there was a torture to having the temptations of the outside world, but being confined to your home. It’s also been said that Shia was free to improvise lines in his scenes to make sure the teenage dialogie sounded authentic. As a result, the characters do indeed feel like teenagers in this film. There is a genuine sense to just about every character in this movie actually.
One of my favorite aspects of this movie is the choice that director D.J. Caruso made to not develop the villain in any way. Similar to what makes villains like The Shape, and the Joker interesting, we get a killer who doesn’t have much for motivation- other than killing because he wants to. We don’t get a sympathetic or even half-baked explanation of who this guy is or where he came from- he’s just a horribly violent and elaborate serial killer and that’s all he is. This could’ve come across odd if you were hoping for answers as to why any of this movie’s events happened. There’s a rawness to this story that feels brisk and refreshing by stripping away the backstory and just giving us the goods.
This shows even in the preparation that the cast did for this film- Rather than watching suburban slashers like Halloween or Scream, Shia LaBeouf watched films like The Conversation, Straw Dogs, Rear Window (of course) and even one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time- Say Anything. These movies are shrouded more in the psyche of a victim than a villain. And furthermore, they all deal in themes of anxiety and the danger of the catch. And that MIGHT be true for Say Anything, but I think it’s more likely that that film was a reference for strictly the teen romance plotline of the movie.
When Turner realizes that the kids are watching him, the movie really goes into the spiral of paranoia. There’s a scene where Kale sends Ronnie into Turner’s garage with a video camera to see if they can find what they believe is a dead body in his trash can. The scene is shot frantically, and the shaking hands of Kale’s best friend are our window into the horrors in the garage- or so we think. The movie pays it off by revealing that the dead body was actually a dead deer that Turner accidentally ran over. This is really the turning point of the movie. See, the cops come to the rescue when the dear incident goes down, and no, Kale’s credibility with the police, and his mom, are completely destroyed. This gives Turner the upper hand and boy, does he know it. Once Kale’s suspicions are out in the open, Turner gets brave as he gets close to Kale’s mom, he confronts Ashley, and he seemingly has killed Ronnie. We’ll get to that later…
Everything culminates in a final showdown with Turner and Kale as Tuner attempts to kill Kale’s friends and family. It’s here that Turner reveals that had Kale just left him alone and minded his own business, none of this would’ve happened. But what this means to me, is that Kale was exactly where he supposed to be- despite the law literally telling him otherwise.
Let’s run it back- Kale’s father dies, this kicks off his bad behavior. Then Kale punches his teacher as a direct result of his grief. Then Kale is placed on house arrest where he gets so bored that he spies on his neighbor, finds out he’s a killer, and blows the case wide open. Every event was leading to Turner’s ultimate death- So it’s ironic that Tuner says that line as, had none of that happened, the burbs would be hosting their very own Nightstalker, and Kale wouldn’t even know about the danger that lived across the street.
Kale’s grief and loss is what caused the worst of things, but also what led to the undoing of subusrbia’s scariest gardener.
So, in a way, the film almost wants to convince us that the tragic events that happen our lives, can lead to… catching a heinous serial killer and getting a girlfriend. Or.. Something like that?
Two previous episodes of Revisited can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!