The 'Burbs is a hilarious, dark comedy directed by Joe Dante (Gremlins, The Howling) and released in 1989. Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) is an average father living in the suburbs. He and his neighbors Art Weingartner (Rick Ducommum) and Mark Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) begin to spy on their odd neighbors, the Klopeks, who are only seen at night. This movie is such a fun time and such an underrated film. This is a classic in my books and I revisit it every year. 10/10

It seems that for some reason this great premise was best put to use as an hour and a half of boring, dull fluff with unlikeable characters and then 2 minutes of fun antics at the end. The humor is childish but likely wouldn't make a child laugh.

"The 'Burbs" is writer / co-producer / actor Dana Olsens' deliberately warped invention. The idea is to remove the picture perfect outer layer of average American suburban life and reveal what potential insanity could be bubbling underneath. In so doing, he also makes fun of suburbanites who seem to make it their business to know everybody elses' business.Tom Hanks stars as Ray Peterson, your typical 'burb dweller, who ends up severely stressed out when his nutty neighbors - Bruce Dern as ex-military man Mark Rumsfield and the late comedian Rick Ducommun as nosey instigator Art Weingartner - spur him to action. They keep hearing weird noises, and seeing weird things, concerning the newcomers to the street, the Klopeks (Henry Gibson, Brother Theodore, Courtney Gains), and wonder just what the hell is going on inside the Klopek house. To make matters more interesting, their elderly neighbor Walter Seznick (Gale Gordon) goes missing. Could the Klopeks be responsible for his disappearance?Ray tries his best to be rational and skeptical, but finds himself drawn in more and more by his kooky comrades and the things he witnesses. Acting as a genuine voice of reason is his understandably frustrated wife Carol (Carrie Fisher).The whole thing becomes rather over the top, but then a sense of anarchy to his stories has always been filmmaker Joe Dantes' ("Piranha" '78, "The Howling", "Gremlins") strong suit. Olsen and Dante have fun with the dark comedy aspect to this yarn, and there are some quite funny bits along the way. Viewing the whole circus from the sidelines is neighborhood teen Ricky Butler (Corey Feldman), who tries to convince his peers that the goings on here are better than any movie they could watch. Among those who really get into the spirit of the material are production designer James Spencer and composer Jerry Goldsmith.Hanks is terrific, and much like the legendary Gene Wilder, proves to be a master at freaking out in a comedic way. But the whole cast is great, with Ducommun often going to town on the scenery. The cast is filled with familiar faces: Wendy Schaal, Dick Miller (Dantes' good luck charm for many years), Robert Picardo, Franklyn Ajaye, Rance Howard, Nicky Katt, Kevin Gage, Patrika Darbo. Olsen himself appears as a cop.While the story is ultimately rather predictable, it does keep you watching, and amused - and may make you wonder what goes on behind your own neighbors' doors.Seven out of 10.

I'm a sucker for Tom Hanks movies (him being 1/2 of my favourite actors). My parents showed me this a few years back and it's definitely become my go-to movie when I'm doing anything or just bored. Sure, it has it's creepy moments and there are some visuals that can be disturbing to some like blood and skeletons. However, it has some very well-written humour and great overall acting. The movie is serious when it needs to be and genuinely funny when it can be. Also the overall plot (and rather weird one at that) in my opinion was pretty good. Weird neighbours move in, no one really questions it but the odd friend. Other neighbours are intrigued, do all these ridiculous but funny stunts to find out more, eventually uncover a doctor to be a murdered. Sure, may sound stupid to some, but I thought it was very, very well done with a great cast. Overall I would recommend this to anyone who wants a funny/slightly creepy movie to watch.