 Thanks for checking out this movie review video. This is for the 1989 horror comedy The Burbs, one of the best horror comedy films in my opinion. I actually got my wife to sit down and watch this, she's not huge on horror, but she quite liked The Burbs and I thought that would be the case. So spoilers for this obviously because all the older films I do spoilers on. Directed by Joe Dante who did such films as The Howling, Gremlins, Gremlins to the New Batch, Innerspace, Rock and Roll High School, and Piranha, just to name a bunch of them. Very well established. If you don't know any or if you haven't seen any other Joe Dante films you must. He does a great job. This was written by Dana Olson who did scripts for the films Wacko, Going Berserk, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, and Georgia the Jungle, yes, the Brendan Fraser, George of the Jungle, which I have not seen. I actually haven't seen any of those films. I heard the George of the Jungle is just not good. Big name cast in this obviously, Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Cary Fisher, Corey Feldman, and in a very small part as is normal, Dick Miller. And that's one of the greatest things about this film. I mean in addition to the directing being awesome, the cinematography being great, the acting is so good to go along with a very strong, fun, well done script. And the cast just knows how to interact with each other so well, make everything seem so fluid, make the relationships and the dialogue seem so realistic. You just feel like you are on that cul-de-sac. You are in that neighborhood experiencing these things like Ricky, just kind of taking it all in and laughing at it and having it be entertainment. So the film had an $18 million budget and it ended up making $49.1 million which is pretty solid. Olson apparently had based this script on the fact that he was raised in kind of a normal middle-class neighborhood. But then remember seeing every now and then headlines in the newspaper, these articles about normal dude in a neighborhood, not obviously not worded like that, but normal guy in a neighborhood, kills whole family and burns the house down, things like that. So then that kind of got him thinking about a script idea of, do you really know who's living in your neighborhood? And even if you know these people, are they really psychos? So that's kind of where the origin of the story came from. Joe Dante was chosen for directing this because of his great ability to kind of blend genres. He does such a good job in the Gremlins films, obviously, of kind of putting horror and comedy together. And that's kind of what's at play here along with drama being rolled in as well. And Tom Hanks was chosen for his great ability to play in Everyman, which he's done numerous times in films before, and he's just a great actor in general, obviously. Because of Joe Dante's relaxed directing, it actually kind of cultivated a environment of a lot of improvisation when they were doing lines. So there was a bunch of improv that kind of went on and it made it into the film. One of the ones I remember reading about was the part at the end when Tom Hanks puts himself on the gurney and then puts himself on the gurney into the EMS vehicle. That was all Tom Hanks. He totally improved that and they kept it. It's a good moment. Did well. This is an interesting fact. Walter's poodle queenie in the film is actually the exact same dog that was precious in Silence of the Lambs. That's a cool fact. I like that. Also a cool fact, Ricky Butler's house in this that I don't think ever actually gets painted, even though he's working on painting it the whole time. That house was the same house used as the Munster's house in the show, The Munsters. Now, the reason for that being is it's on a studio lot. It's a cul-de-sac in neighborhood built on a studio lot, so it's been used for filming for a lot of things. But I think it's cool to know, watching the film, that that was The Munster's house. Very awesome. A mix of the music, it being dark out and the glowing coming from the Clopec basement ends up setting the stage for great suspicion and a little bit of horror in the very beginning of this film, obviously when Ray, Tom Hanks character, is going outside at night and everything seems creepy and we just immediately zero in on there's something weird at the Clopec house, which wasn't really their house. They just kind of took it over as we find out. Ray watching all the drama in the neighborhood just speaks to everyone's curiosity about what's going on in their neighborhood and kind of the delight in watching people's drama play out. That's one of the biggest things on display in this film that feels so real to me. It's that in neighborhoods, especially back in, you know, 80s, 90s when, you know, people would actually go outside and interact with each other's neighbors. It's very different now, obviously. Most people probably don't even know their neighbors nowadays because everyone stays inside. But just the idea that there was so much drama that would just happen in the neighborhood and even though a lot of people would act like they didn't like it, a lot of people secretly liked it. And you see that on display in this film, you know, with Ray, with basically all the guys in the film, it seems like at least Carrie Fisher's character, his name Linda in it, I can't remember, I'm sorry. She is not really into the drama and actually wants to get away with it. But Ray kind of, he acts like he's not into it, but he keeps getting pulled back in and kind of admits in a way that he is into it. Everyone you see throughout the film is really into the drama. They either were like participating in it or they like watching it. Now the only person in the film who actually openly will admit that they love the drama is obviously Corey Feldman's character, Ricky, who not only is using it as entertainment that he says in the film is better than television, but keeps bringing all his friends over to experience it and they love it. And, you know, you always have those types of people in the neighborhood who just, you know they love the drama and they'll actually even seek to kind of drum it up. I know at least one person in my neighborhood like that. But not as cool as Ricky. I like how Art just makes himself at home at Ray's house in the very first time that you meet Art, he just kind of comes in, they feed him breakfast and he's just like going through the refrigerator. Now I think that's great because not only is it funny, but it also establishes the relationship between Art and Ray of how comfortable they are with each other, how far they go back basically, that he can just come in and just root through their refrigerator and he doesn't feel bad about it. And he also, I mean, also they don't say anything to him about it. So it's a good relationship builder. The stories and observations that Art brings up to Ray kind of get him becoming a little bit paranoid. At numerous times throughout the film, especially early on, you see Ray's seeing things that are suspicious with the Klopeck house, but keeps, you know, he'll entertain it for a little bit, but then he keeps kind of explaining it away because he doesn't want there to be a problem. He just keeps being the skeptic about what's going on is just like, well, you know, there's gotta be some sort of explanation. And we do that in our neighborhoods a lot. You know, even if there is something that's very suspicious or sometimes something that you know is wrong, you'll kind of look and be like, well, there's probably more to that story. I don't want to get involved. It's not my place, you know, things like that. So Ray is kind of in that mode, but Art keeps pushing it, pushing it, pushing it. And when he keeps talking about all these things and throwing out all these ideas about what could be going on over in the Klopeck house, it just gets, Ray just gets wrapped up in it and you see it happen. And you just start spinning and spinning and spinning. And his wife obviously sees it and keeps trying to talk him out of going down that path, but that's what makes the film so great. And it's cool that he's kind of reluctant to do it. And then in the end, he becomes the most ferocious in, you know, running these kinds of conspiracies down. It's very interesting to watch. The moment when one of the Klopecks comes out of the house and everyone's staring at him is pretty funny, not only from the standpoint of it, just visually looking funny, but funny from the standpoint of, you know, you know they're creating a terrible dynamic in the neighborhood by not saying anything to him at that point and just staring. It's just like, okay, here we go. Ricky plays the important neighborhood role of egging everyone on because he loves the drama. Everyone does, but he's not afraid to be vocal about it. Already kind of talked about that, but it does bear repeating. And that's why he's one of the best characters in the film. Probably my favorite, to be honest. The story art tells Ray and Ricky about Skip, the, I think it was Ice Cream Man, highlights the idea that anyone can just lose it. And many neighborhoods have shared stories kind of like that. And that's the thing, whether it's actually based in reality or it's just a urban legend, these stories get told all the time, you know. Everyone's got, you know, even in my neighborhood, you know, it becomes these rumors. You know, you have someone say, well, there's someone dealing drugs and you know, in this house, on this street. And you know, you hear that stuff all the time. And I think that's one of the reasons that when people watch this film, it's so easy to connect to because there's a lot of stuff that, you know, you can relate to living in a house in a neighborhood. I like how Rumsfield is just looking for reasons to use this military training. You see that constantly throughout the film coming up. He's just champing at the bit to get things going and just like, how can I use my scope? How can I use, you know, this or that? It's pretty funny. And Brewsterne's awesome. I love Brewsterne as an actor. The digging in the backyard in the rain is by far the most suspicious of all the Clopac activities. And then the next day, Walter being missing. That's probably the strongest moment where it starts to really get to the audience that, yeah, there's probably something else going on here in the film. Now, obviously they have more, you know, some misdirection that gets thrown in there that's pretty good at kind of distracting the audience. Once again, pointing to how good the writing is with the film. During Ray's nightmare, it's important to note that the cultists are chanting while he's on that giant grill. Now, what they're chanting is, Satan's our friend, Satan's our pal. And if you remember, that's something that Art had been saying to him when they were in the basement looking at the book of demonology. And it's also important to note that if you watch his nightmare closely, you can see a bunch of things that have kind of been pulled into the nightmare from things that he had done that day or did right before he went to sleep. So, I mean, that's how, you know, dreams and nightmares work pretty much. I like how Rumsfield treats the visit to the Clopacs like an interrogation opportunity, especially when everyone else is trying to be nice and get to know them. And, you know, even if they're suspicious, maybe get a few answers, but get them in a more sly, more friendly way. But Rumsfield is just like, yeah, this, that. It just, it's funny. And then when he's like peeling some of the wallpaper off the wall, I just think that's funny. Fun, fun touch. They do really tally up the, sorry, the suspicious events until Walter comes back, which gives the audience that false sense of normalcy kind of being returned in the neighborhood. At that point when Walter is shown coming home and everyone's like, oh, no, we screwed up. As an audience member, you're starting to go, oh, you know, maybe these all were coincidences and people were just seeing suspicious activity in it when it wasn't actually. But then that's a great kind of red herring to make you feel that sense of normalcy again, restored to the film until they have that reveal, that twist where it's like, oh, no, they were right all along. The Clopex are killing people. I love that Ricky keeps inviting people over to watch the neighborhood drama, especially the end when he basically has a party on his front lawn, including when he says the pizza dude is coming. People love that line. I love that line as well. My mom is a huge fan of this film and Ricky is one of her favorite characters and she loves that line. It's, you know, rightfully so, it's so good. Ray walking out of the exploded house is funny, but very unrealistic, obviously, but this is kind of something that's been done in that time period, 80s and 90s, using violence and using explosions and trauma and accidents like that and minimizing the actual impact to someone's body for comedic effect. That was done a lot back then. Nowadays, when you watch it, you're like, well, that's unrealistic. He'd be dead or at least really messed up, not just soot on him and his clothes a little bit torn up, but it is what it is. Ray is an example of what happens when you go too far down the conspiracy theory or rabbit hole. Obviously, I talked about how he starts by being dismissive of what's going on and then he gets too involved in it and then he just becomes more and more rabid about going after this until a point where you just really can't come back. I mean, he blew up the house. You know, in the end, he ended up being right about it, but still, what if he wasn't? What if the film ended where he actually wasn't right about it? That's another ending that could have been. The shot of Klopec, the one Klopec, I think it was, it wasn't Reuben. I forget what the other guy's name was. The main guy, who's the doctor. The shot of him and Ray struggling on the gurney as it was rolling down the street out of the EMS vehicle is a really cool shot. I really like how that's done. It's very interesting how you're just kind of like following from like down at the foot area and you're seeing all the stuff passing in the background. It looks really awesome. I love that shot. Ricky was treating his street as entertainment and in the end, that will be beamed to the rest of the United States so they can also treat that street as entertainment. I think that's one of the cool things watching till the very end of it and seeing this whole time Ricky has been using it as television and using it as entertainment and since something big did happen, all the news outlets are showing up and that will now become the entertainment for everyone in the United States who watches the news. Very interesting. Because of the comedic tone of the film, when the dark scary music comes in, it feels like it's tongue in cheek which helps cast doubt about the clopex actually being killers. There is a good ability for people to kind of go back and forth as an audience member of, well, are they actually up to something or they're not up to something? I think I remember the first time I saw the film, granted I was a child, pretty young, that I kept being like, oh no, they're not up to anything. Oh no, they are up to something. So at least if you're not looking at it from a super critical standpoint, you could really end up waffling between those two things as an audience member. This does seem similar to the film Fright Night if you really think about it. The whole idea of middle-class neighborhood and then someone moves in next door and they seem suspicious, they seem creepy, what's really going on over there? You never really know who's living there and then it turns out they're doing terrible things. It's like Fright Night and for that reason, I think that pairing the burbs with Fright Night would be a really cool double feature, just an idea for people. It's truly a play on you never know who's living right next to you and that applies even more nowadays because we seldom try to get to know our neighbors. At least in this film, people knew most of their neighbors and so for that reason, everyone was able to kind of talk and keep an eye out and then all say, I'm seeing this as suspicious, are you seeing this as suspicious and be able to confirm that stuff? Nowadays, it's harder to suss that type of stuff out just because we're also singular in how we live. I know some people where I live, my two immediate neighbors, I know them, I know a few other neighbors, but for the most part, I don't really know that many people in my neighborhood and I know people who don't know anyone in their neighborhood even though they've been living there for years. People just go to work, then come home and stay in their houses and even when they go out, they don't talk to anyone. So having a situation like the Clopex, nowadays they probably just be getting away with what they did, just saying. So anyway, those are my feelings on the burbs. Would love to hear your feelings, things you love about it. Do you love Ricky as much as me? Who's your favorite character? Let's put it down in the comments and get nerdy about it. So overall, with a possible five stars for this film with half stars in play, it's really good, it's really well executed. It's not a perfect film, but I'm gonna give it a four and a half star rating. It's almost there. It is so good, love this film. Like I said, wanna hear about it from you, but do me a quick favor as well, hit that subscribe button. If you like this review video or any video I've ever done, reviews, unboxings or live streams or whatever, the best thing you can do is hit that subscribe button to pay me back because I'm not getting paid or anything. And come on, it's literally like a second and painless for you to just hit the subscribe. 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