Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Put Rear Window, The Silence of the Lambs, and Halloween in a blender, and you'll get a lumpy yet frothy concoction that looks a lot like Disturbia. Determined to maintain the film's PG-13 rating and teen-movie status, director D.J. Caruso (Two for the Money) mutes any sense of impending doom that could have made the film feel like a legitimate thriller. A few scenes generate enough quirky humor to make the kids laugh, at least.

Highly detailed throughout, the DVD transfer makes Disturbia seem a little too digitally processed. Combined with the visually sedate suburban setting, the overall look and feel shouts "TV movie" loud and clear. That said, the darkly lit basement finale lifted straight from The Silence of the Lambs maintains all its crucial sharpness. The soundtrack manages some convincingly creepy ambience, but it's unspectacular even in the most dynamic, high-tension scenes.

Extras are a little thin. A commentary by Caruso and young stars Shia LaBeouf and Sarah Roemer is spirited and informative, but it's hard to imagine who would enjoy the annoying Serial Pursuit Pop-Up Quiz feature, which fills part of the screen with movie-related factoids. A 15-minute featurette mainly delivers the usual marketing-department enthusiasm, and five deleted scenes are modest and low-key in the extreme. [PG-13] English, French, and Spanish, Dolby Digital EX; letterboxed (1.78:1); dual layer.

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