Once again I find myself trying to understand why I don't dislike a film as much as I really should. Disturbed doesn't really have a lot going for it -- the same old cookie-cutter storyline we've all seen about a hundred times before, a lot of really bad acting, a weird minor character whose odd behavior is never explained, and the most cliched of endings.

Obviously, this is a low-budget film; it's also something of a family affair, as both the cast and the crew are riddled with Aldridges. (Randy Aldridge writes, directs, produces and plays the killer in the film, so it looks like Disturbed is largely his brainchild.) Overall, it's a really bad movie -- until one dramatic scene changes everything.

The plot centers around a murderer who manages to escape prison and decides to seek revenge on those who put him in jail in the first place. High on this list is a Senator Fontaine, whose three children just happen to be at home alone while he is away on business. Ashlee Fontaine (Melissa Deverian) is the oldest and most responsible of the three young people; Alex (Alex Aldridge) just wants to have fun with his girlfriend, while Peyton (Peyton Aldridge) is overly concerned with her low social status at the local high school.

Like all young people facing an existential threat, the Fontaines decide have a party with plenty of underage drinking. It's all so predictable, so I needn't elaborate at this point.

With so much bad acting and poor dialogue, I was hunkered down just trying to make it to the end of the movie. Then, all of a sudden, there's a surprisingly intense and violent scene that changes the whole atmosphere of the film. It makes for a rather shocking transition from what was, up until that point, a rather dumb and utterly forgettable horror film.

That one scene can't undo the poor plot and all of the bad acting (not to mention such mistakes as having the refrigerator light come on during a power outage), but it definitely had an impact on my overall opinion of the movie.

I can't really recommend this movie, but I also can't deny that Disturbed left a lasting impression on me -- and that is a feat that most films of this genre just can't pull off.