“Disturbia” is one of those early 21st-century films that seem dated due to its questionable depiction of certain themes. Although the film follows a psychological thriller narrative, it revolves around a teenager who starts spying on his neighbors after getting placed on house arrest. At times, it veers into a problematic depiction of love that equates stalking with romance. It is impossible to dismiss it as just a product of its time. Nevertheless, the film is a fascinating mix of teen drama and psychological thriller that manages to get under your skin. D. J. Caruso has directed this film based on the screenplay by Christopher Landon & Carl Ellsworth.
Spoilers Ahead
Disturbia (2007) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
“Disturbia” is a psychological thriller about a teenager who is put under house arrest soon after a personal tragedy. During his forced lockdown, he begins to doubt that one of his neighbors is a serial killer. Although set in early 21st-century suburban America, the narrative is quite similar to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 mystery thriller, “Rear Window.”
What happens in ‘Disturbia’?
“Disturbia” follows Kale Brecht (Shia LaBeouf), a teenager who suspects that a serial killer is living near their house. We meet Kale spending time with his father, Daniel (Matt Craven), fishing. On their way back home, they suffer a tragic incident that takes Daniel’s life. Kale gets disturbed by this sudden, unexpected loss. So, he gets dejected. Shortly after, he takes out his frustration at his Spanish teacher by punching him in the face. So, he gets put on trial for this assault. At the time, he is only a couple of months shy from adulthood. The judge learns about his deceased father and reduces his sentence.
Kale gets placed under three months of house arrest with an ankle monitor and a proximity sensor. It means he can’t go beyond certain parameters in his house. Otherwise, he will face worse consequences. Detective Parker (Viola Davis) explains these details about his ankle monitor. Moments later, he realizes that the officer overseeing him is a cousin of the Spanish teacher he had hit before. Unsure how to spend his time, Kale hopes to keep watching TV, playing Xbox games, and listening to iTunes. But his mother, Julie (Carrie-Anne Moss), cancels all those subscriptions and expects him to be responsible.
How does Kale spend his time during his house arrest?
With no source of his usual entertainment, Kale starts snooping on his neighbors through binoculars. He notices a family moving into the next house and gets attracted to the daughter. Soon after, he gets pranked by some neighborhood kids. While trying to discipline them, he ends up crossing the parameters, which triggers his ankle monitor. So, he receives his first warning from the police. Meanwhile, Kale snoops on their other neighbor, Robert Turner (David Morse). One night, he notices Robert return with a Mustang with a dent. Kale recalls the news mention of a similar car being connected to a series of murders.
Soon after, Kale tells his friend, Ronnie (Aaron Yoo), about the next-door neighbor, Ashley (Sarah Roemer). They both start looking at her from his window. She realizes that and shows up at Kale’s doorstep. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, he tells her his suspicion about Robert. So, they spend the whole day looking at Robert. Unlike before, they don’t see a dent in Robert’s car. They read online about how the suspected serial murderer killed people and kept their bodies. Later, at night, they see Robert return home with a woman. Kale notices Robert take out a knife. But Robert uses it just to cut the tag on the woman’s dress.
What does Kale learn about Robert’s date?
Even after Ashley returns home, Kale keeps frantically looking at Robert’s house. Suddenly, he notices the redhead woman running, screaming for help, and struggling to escape Robert’s house. While shooting it on his camera, Kale mistakenly bumps into the window and potentially exposes himself. Moments later, he notices the same woman enter her car and drive away. So, he believes she is safe. The next morning, he finds Robert in his house, offering some help to his mother. Julie tells Robert about Kale’s house arrest. Kale worries that Robert will harm his mother, too. Ashley tries to put his worries to rest.
At night, Ashley throws a party for her friends, which makes Kale jealous. So, he tries to sabotage it by playing some different music. Moments later, Ashley shows up at his house to confront him. Kale confesses that he has been stalking her since she moved into the next house and shares what he likes about her. She thinks it means he loves her and starts kissing him. Along the way, she ends up noticing Robert dragging a bloodied, blue bag down the stairs of his house. So, she and Kale suspect it contains one of Robert’s victims. Together, they devise a plan to expose Robert’s sadistic crimes.
What is Kale, Ashley, & Ronnie’s plan to expose Robert?
Ashley follows Robert to a nearby market and updates Kale on his present location over call. While Robert is away, Ronnie tries to find Robert’s garage controller’s code from his car. Robert realizes that Ashley has been following him and intimidates her. Scared by it, she aborts the mission, leaving Ronnie & Kale on their own. Later, Ronnie realizes that he has left his mobile phone in Robert’s car. So, at night, Kale helps Ronnie to find his phone. Ronnie enters Robert’s garage, also to know what is inside the blue bag Robert pulled down the stairs. Over a call, Ronnie tells Kale about an awful stench inside the garage.
Before Ronnie can escape, Kale notices the garage door closing up. Panicked, Ronnie starts running around Robert’s house to escape. Kale gets worried about Ronnie’s life and runs over to save him. While doing so, he crosses the parameters of his monitor, which invites the police officers. Once they arrive, Kale tells them that Ronnie is stuck in Robert’s house. Robert denies this claim, and the cops don’t find Ronnie inside his house. Then, Kale tells them about his suspicion about a dead body in Robert’s garage. The cops bring out the blue bag to find a dead deer. So, Kale ends up getting another warning from the police.
Disturbia (2007) Movie Ending Explained:
Can Kale expose Robert to the police?
Julie worries Robert might file a case against Kale. So, she goes to his house to convince him otherwise. After she goes there, Kale finds Ronnie inside his closet. In the video Ronnie shot inside Robert’s house, Kale notices the dead body of the same woman he saw with Robert. So, he worries for his mother’s life and rushes to save her. By then, Robert attacks Julie and binds her. Then, he enters Kale’s house, attacks Ronnie, and starts attacking Kale. Suddenly, Ashley comes to help Kale and attacks Robert. So, Robert loses his consciousness. Right after, Kale goes to Robert’s house to find his mother. Inside the house, he finds evidence of Turner’s previous murders.
Kale also finds a woman’s wig and a dress in Robert’s house. It means Robert pretended to be the woman and drove her car away a few nights before. Meanwhile, Officer Gutierrez learns that Kale went past the boundary. So, he drives back to the location and enters Robert’s house. While Robert snaps the officer’s neck, Kale finds Julie bound and tries to save her. But Robert tries to stop him. So, Kale & Julie defend themselves by any means necessary and manage to escape. Soon after, the police follow up with the bodies discovered in Robert’s house. After Kale exposes Robert’s truth to the police, the officers remove his ankle bracelet for good behavior. Finally, he walks past his house to meet Ashley.
The Final Word
Throughout “Disturbia,” we see a teenager obsessively stalking his neighbors out of boredom. While Kale tries to grow past his father’s death, Ashley tries to escape her dreadful family dynamic, where her parents are plagued by the worries of infidelity. The dull and eventless setting of suburbia feels apt for their stories filled with limitations and insecurities. However, the film simultaneously trades some tricky waters through scenes that feel dated at this point.
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