Tom Hanks’ THE BURBS is One of the Most Fun Horror Comedies of All Time
I’m always on the lookout for a great horror-comedy. We don’t see a lot of them get made these days and when they do get made it seems like most of the time they aren’t very good. Mixing elements of horror and comedy isn’t really an easy task, but when the right talents and creative minds come together to create one, something magical happens.
One of my favorite horror-comedies of all time is a 1989 film called The Burbs. I came across a couple of people that, to my surprise, have never seen the movie, and if they haven’t seen it, I’m sure there are a lot of other people out there that happened to miss this one. If you are one of them you need to change that and watch it now! It’s one of those films that won’t disappoint.
The film was directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins) and it has a hell of a great cast that includes Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, Corey Feldman, and Rick Docommun.
The story is set in a suburb cul-de-sac and Ray Peterson (Hanks) wants to spend his vacation time at home. While he’s on his vacation, a mysterious and odd family named the Kopeks move into a house down the block. After one of their neighbors ends up disappearing, Ray becomes paranoid that the Klopecks have something to do with his disappearance. So, when Ray’s wife and kid go out of town, Ray teams up with his neighbors, Art (Ducommun) and Rumsfield (Dern), to investigate his creepy-ass neighbors to save their neighborhood from the forces of evil.
If you have seen the film already, you know how entertaining the movie is! This is the kind of flick that I can watch over and over again and never get tired of it. It always makes me happy.
This movie was actually one of the few films shot in sequences and was also filmed during the writers’ strike of 1988. Because of the writers’ strike, the director encouraged the actors to improvise a lot of the scenes they shot. One example was the moment when Rumsfield rips the Klopeks' wallpaper, which was an idea from Bruce Dern. Rick Ducommun ad-libbed many of his lines, including the "Satan is good, Satan is our pal" dialogue. Tom Hanks and Carrie Fisher came up with the idea of playing along with Jeopardy! And Hanks improvised the scene where he picks up the gurney and puts himself into the ambulance.
One of the things I liked most about this film was that the whole story was set in an isolated area. The film never leaves the little cul-de-sac that is located on the Universal Studios lot. Two of the houses used in the film were from the popular TV shows The Munsters and Leave it to Beaver.
When the film was initially released it was met with bad reviews, but it still ended up doing well at the box office and has since gathered a cult following.
For those of you who have seen The Burbs, what did you think of it? If you haven’t seen it in awhile, it’s certainly worth revisiting. I’ve included the trailer for the film below along with a couple of behind-the-scenes videos to watch.