The 'Burbs

MOVIE #1,882 • 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 • 08.13.24 This is another one I remember watching at a young age and haven't seen again since. But unlike the fond feelings I have for Innerspace, I recall being very creeped out and scared by it (I've mentioned this before but I did not like films with even a hint of horror as a youngster). After watching it as a 43-year-old I fully realized what an absolute wuss I was back then! It’s not scary at all! When viewed from afar, Dante’s decade+ run between The Howling (1981) and Matinee (1993) is one of the best and probably most underrated runs a filmmaker has ever had. The ‘Burbs might be the weakest of the seven films he directed in this period, and yet it’s still pretty fantastic.

It begins with a cool play on the Universal logo bumper transitioning into the start of the movie…


Corey Feldman’s horny “no tan lines” quip is another tiny fragment that was forever burnt into my memory (my one good recollection from seeing this with my older brother). The cast on the whole is, once again, perfect all the way down the line. Obviously, Tom Hanks’ rare turn in a dark comedy gets most of the love, but every bit his equal are Bruce Dern and the late great Richard Ducommun.

Not to spoil this film (it’s been out for 35 years) but the ending is lowkey genius: Hanks essentially unpacks the themes of the film via soliloquy — how the boredom of suburbia leads to fear — only to have that entire notion subverted and upended when his wild suspicions are proven correct.

Watching these in fast succession I think hindered my appreciation for the film, if only because it’s comparatively less action-packed and tonally bleaker (at least outwardly). It also speaks to the HIGH quality of the Joe Dante films from this era, as he would release Gremlins 2, one of — if not the best sequel ever made, just a little over a year later.

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The 'Burbs is a 1989 American black comedy film directed by Joe Dante, and starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson, and Gale Gordon. The film was written by Dana Olsen, who made a cameo appearance in the film. It was released on February 17, 1989.