Disturbia DVD review

Disturbia, the hit teen thriller from the early spring starring now-household name Shia LaBeouf, is coming to DVD August 7th, and we got our hands on a copy...

As you probably know, Disturbia is a rip-off of Rear Window, with LaBeouf playing a teenager who is sentenced to house arrest. In his fidgeting state, he resorts to voyeurism, and takes particular interest his next door neighbor, the extremely hot Sarah Roemer, who likes to spend her time near the pool. But after the two meet and strike up a (romantic?) friendship, they begin to suspect that another neighbor, played by David Morse, is actually a serial killer.

The movie is pretty entertaining but could have been a lot better; a few too many teen moments and a rather abrupt ending hurt its chances from becoming anything more than standard thriller fare. Of course, you can read my full movie review here, as I will devote the rest of this time to the DVD...

The DVD includes commentary by the director and the two young leads, but I didn't listen to it because I can't bring myself to sit through a whole movie listening to people talk. I instead migrated to the deleted scenes, which are pretty basic and not at all interesting, and the outtakes, which were equally unimpressive. A "Making-Of" featurette is the best part of the DVD, as it has interviews with most of the cast members and provides some insight into the film beyond a promotional level. A photo gallery (does anyone look at the photo galleries on these DVDs? What a waste), a music video and a pop-up quiz are other rather forgettable features.

Overall, in terms of quantity, Disturbia has enough DVD features to suffice, and fans of the film won't be too disappointed. The bonus features are about average in quality, and hey, if there aren't good deleted scenes, then there aren't good deleted scenes.

Disturbia is a good enough film that I'd recommend it, but it could have been so much better. The DVD is decent, but nothing spectacular. If you're a guy, watch it for Roemer, and if not, watch LaBeouf in one of his first starring roles of what is to be a long and illustrious career.