The 2007 neo-noir psychological thriller Disturbia, starring Shia LaBeouf, has strong similarities to an Alfred Hitchcock classic, raising questions about it being a remake or a modern version of it. Directed by D. J. Caruso and with a script by Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth, Disturbia starred Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, David Morse, and Carrie-Anne Moss. Disturbia was well-received by critics and was a box-office success, and it found more success upon its arrival on Netflix, quickly climbing to the streaming giant’s global top 10.

Disturbia follows Kale Brecht (LaBeouf), who is sentenced to three months of house arrest. Kale can’t go beyond the limits of his house, and growing bored with being alone at home, he starts watching his neighbors with binoculars, and one, named Robert Turner, catches his attention as he matches the description of a serial killer at large. Kale, with the help of his crush, Ashley, and his best friend, Ronnie, starts spying on Turner to confirm his suspicions, but it soon takes a dark turn. Disturbia is very similar to one of Alfred Hitchcock’s classics, understandably raising questions about it possibly being a remake.

Disturbia Isn’t A Remake Of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window, But Was Heavily Inspired By It

Despite Their Obvious Similarities, Disturbia Is An Original Story

Disturbia has clear similarities to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller Rear Window, but it isn’t a remake of it nor a modern version. Based on the 1952 short story It Had To Be Murder, by Cornell Woolrich, Rear Window follows Jeff (James Stewart), a professional photographer who, after breaking his leg, is forced to spend his day at home in a wheelchair. As the rear window in his apartment looks out onto a courtyard and other apartments, Jeff spends his days watching his neighbors and begins to suspect that a man named Lars Thorwald killed his wife.

Similarly to Kale in Disturbia, James counted on the help of his girlfriend Lisa, his nurse Stella, and his detective friend Tom Doyle to investigate the strange events happening over at Thorwald’s home. Rear Window is widely considered one of Hitchcock’s best works and one of the greatest movies ever made, and as such, it has been greatly influential. Although Disturbia isn’t a Rear Window remake, Caruso told Biggie in 2007 that he and LaBeouf had watched Rear Window to prepare for the movie, but it was just for inspiration.

In an interview with The Horror Chick, Landon shared that the idea for Disturbia came to him while listening to a story about Martha Stewart being on house arrest. Kale dealing with grief after the death of his father was a personal addition by Landon, who went through the same when he lost his father, Michael Landon, when he was 16 years old. In a separate interview with The Denver Post, Landon added that after hearing about Stewart’s house arrest, he started thinking about what he would do if he was on house arrest, and that’s how he came up with Disturbia.

Other Movies That Inspired 2017’s Disturbia

Disturbia Was Inspired By Different Thrillers

In the above-mentioned interview with Biggie, Caruso mentioned three other movies he and LaBeouf watched to prepare for Disturbia: Straw Dogs, The Conversation, and Say Anything. Straw Dogs follows astrophysicist David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) who moves to Britain with his wife, where they are bullied and taken advantage of by the locals. When David decides to take a stand, everything takes a violent turn. The Conversation, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, follows Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a surveillance expert who suspects a couple he secretly recorded is about to be murdered by his client.

Say Anything, on the other hand, is a rom-com by Cameron Crowe that follows Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack), who falls for the class valedictorian Diane Court (Ione Skye), but they face the prejudice of those around them as they come from different social groups. Disturbia’s Rear Window inspiration is a lot clearer than the other movies, but they came together to make an interesting and engaging thriller.

Sources: Biggie, The Horror Chick, The Denver Post.