History Film / Disturbia

With his mother Julie (Moss) cutting off his TV and internet access, Kale's boredom leads him to start looking out of his window and watching his neighbors. Joined by his best friend Ronnie and the new GirlNextDoor Ashley (Roemer), Kale's spying ends up introducing him to his neighbor Robert Turner (Morse), with the suspicious activities they see in his house seeming to line up with those of a wanted serial killer at large.

With his mother Julie (Moss) cutting off his TV and internet access, Kale's boredom leads him to start looking out of his window and watching his neighbors. Joined by his best friend Ronnie and the new GirlNextDoor Ashley (Creator/SarahRoemer), Kale's spying ends up introducing him to his neighbor Robert Turner (Creator/DavidMorse), with the suspicious activities they see in his house seeming to line up with those of a wanted serial killer at large.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DisTurbiaImageSLB_4943.JPG]]
[[caption-width-right:320:''[[{{Tagline}} Every killer lives next door to someone.]]'']]

With his mother Julie (Moss) cutting off his TV and internet access, and the policeman supervising his home being the vengeful cousin of the teacher he assaulted, Kale has nothing to do all day but look out of his window and watch his neighbors. Joined by his best friend Ronnie and the new GirlNextDoor Ashley (Creator/SarahRoemer), Kale's spying ends up introducing him to the strange Robert Turner (Creator/DavidMorse), whose activities seem to line up suspiciously with a they the more and more they watch, the more and more Mr. Turner's activities seem to be suspicious in actually being able to commit violent crimes against women

Key influences for the film were ''Film/StrawDogs'', ''Film/TheConversation'', ''Film/SayAnything'', and [[RearWindowHomage notably]] ''Film/RearWindow''. Creator/StevenSpielberg was an executive producer on the film and personally arranged for [=LaBeouf=] to be on the casting shortlist, having been impressed by his work in the 2003 film adaptation of ''Literature/{{Holes}}''.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/DisTurbiaImageSLB_4943.JPG]][[caption-width-right:320: "[[TagLine Every killer lives next door to someone.]]"]]

Kale Brecht (Creator/ShiaLaBeouf) is a troubled suburban teenager who loses his dad in a gruesome car accident. A year afterward, still raw from his dad's death and slipping behind in school, he assaults his Spanish teacher after he asks what Kale's father would've thought of his poor performance in class. He ends up getting sentenced to three months in house arrest, controlled by a GPS bracelet around his leg that only allows him to move within an electronic perimeter around his house. An immediate response alert is triggered by the bracelet if Kale ever steps outside this area.

Kale's shaky relationship with his mother Julie (Creator/CarrieAnneMoss) gets worse when she cuts off his TV and internet access, while the policeman supervising his home detention Officer Gutiérrez (Creator/JosePabloCantillo) is the happily vengeful cousin of the Spanish teacher, which turns Kale's situation from bad to worse. Imprisoned in his house, he has nothing to do all day but look out of his window and watch his neighbors. Monitoring their activities every waking hour, he sees one neighbor having an affair with his maid, kids watching porn when they are alone, the strange Robert Turner (Creator/DavidMorse) who may or may not be a killer, and the new girl next door Ashley (Creator/SarahRoemer), who spends more time on her rooftop than inside her actual house. After meeting Ashley and watching her undress with her blinds open, she catches him in the act but eventually gets pulled into his obsessive search for the killer in the neighborhood.

Heavily [[RearWindowHomage inspired]] by the plot of Creator/AlfredHitchcock's classic ''Film/RearWindow.''

* WidowWoman: Julie, Kale's mother following her husband's death at the beginning of the film. It's implied Julie blames Kale for his death, causing her to be somewhat vindictively authoritative and strict towards him, which only worsens when Kale is placed under house arrest for punching his teacher, even though it was in defense of her late husband's memory as the teacher insults Kale's father which led to Kale hitting him.

* BloodlessCarnage: Despite its violent premise, very little blood is shown in the film, which is likely why it only received a PG-13 rating. [[spoiler: Even Robert bleeds very little upon being impaled with a garden shear.]]

* HollywoodNerd: Kale and Ashley, in their own ways.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Detective Parker (played by Creator/ViolaDavis) advises Kale to not even try disrupting the tracking device by soaking it in water because not only will it not work, but he'll look stupid as well. [[spoiler: Later, when Kale and Ashley are escaping Turner, they both jump in the pool from the roof and the tracker's signal goes off alerting the cops.]]

* DoesNotLikeShoes: Ashley is barefoot at home or when she goes up to read in her roof. She even hosts her party that way, and is still unshod when coming to Kale's house to berate him for spying on her. Kale is also seen barefoot at home, though not as much as her.

* ButtMonkey: Kale does through a few moments, like being tormented by his bratty neighbors.

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* SuburbanGothic: a teenage boy under house arrest discovers that his nextdoor neighbor is a serial killer.

* ChainedByFashion: Ashley invokes it by customizing Kale's GPS anklet with paints.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Officer Gutiérrez, after being alerted by Kale's ankle bracelet for one last time, investigate the inside of Robert Turner's house and sees the suspiciously opened vent that contained one of Turner's victims, prompting him to pull out his sidearm and cautiously search further upon realizing how serious the situation could be. After being a SmugSnake over using his position as Kale's parole officer to humiliate him, he [[HeelFaceDoorSlam presumably now realizes Kale could be telling the truth about Turner all along, only to get his neck snapped by Turner just as he calls for back up]].

** The Spanish teacher. He fails Ronnie's spanish speech out of spite for screwing around, throws an eraser at Kale, and insensitively asks him about his father. Then presses charges against Kale for the assault with still NoSympathy towards Kale's hardships since losing his father and how it led to him punching him.

* LovableCoward: Ronnie, who after he [[spoiler:broke in to Turner's car to retrieve his phone back he forgot in an earlier investigation for Kale and then investigate his house for more clues, escape the house and hide when the police arrive to avoid arrest for burglary and trespassing, leading Kale to believe Turner had harmed him and risking getting into trouble with the law and making a big fool of himself in the eyes of neighborhood to try to rescue him]].

Kale Brecht (Creator/ShiaLaBeouf) is a troubled suburban teenager who loses his dad in a gruesome car accident. A year afterward, still raw from his dad's death and slipping behind in school, he assaults his Spanish teacher after he asks [[TooSoon what Kale's father would've thought of his poor performance in class.]] He ends up getting sentenced to three months in house arrest, controlled by a GPS bracelet around his leg that only allows him to move within an electronic perimeter around his house. An immediate response alert is triggered by the bracelet if Kale ever steps outside this area.

* * IrrationalHatred: Julie blames Kale for her husband's and his father's death, despite it being completely not his fault, leading her to becoming strict towards him as a result. Thankfully, she grew out of it at the end.

** The Spanish teacher. He throws an eraser at Kale and insensitively asks him about his father. Then presses charges against Kale for the assault with still NoSympathy towards Kale's hardships since losing his father and how it led to him punching him.

Kale's shaky relationship with his mother gets worse when she cuts off his TV and internet access, while the policeman supervising his home detention is the happily vengeful cousin of the Spanish teacher, which turns Kale's situation from bad to worse. Imprisoned in his house, he has nothing to do all day but look out of his window and watch his neighbors. Monitoring their activities every waking hour, he sees one neighbor having an affair with his maid, kids watching porn when they are alone, the strange Robert Turner who may or may not be a killer, and the new girl next door Ashley, who spends more time on her rooftop than inside her actual house. After meeting Ashley and watching her undress with her blinds open, she catches him in the act but eventually gets pulled into his obsessive search for the killer in the neighborhood.

* HypercompetentSidekick: Ronnie is this towards Kale.

* MaleGaze: Kale, and sometimes Ronnie, spends a while lusting after Ashley from afar.

* PornStash: Well, technically not magazine, but the bratty kids usually watch porn on their television set.

* StalkerWithACrush: Kale.
* StalkingIsLove: Kale manages to pull a surprisingly wholesome variation of this after Ashley gets mad at him for spying her. He admits he does spy her, but then demonstrates how deep and untrivial is the insight of her it has granted him and how much he admires her for what he has seen. It works, and she sums it by describing the case as "the creepiest... or the sweetest thing she ever heard" before accepting it as an elaborate LoveConfession and kissing him. Unlike many examples, it is also helped by circumstances: she shares his acknowledgement that they are both in a similar situation, that of a teenager trapped in an unfavorable place and trying to figure out an absurd and hurtful world by peeking at it through limited means (her books and his window).
* StepfordSuburbia

* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Kale, his best friend Ronnie, and Ashley. a girl who moves next door, team up when they stalk a creepy neighbour.