“He's a man of peace in a savage land... Suburbia.”
In The 'Burbs, a quiet vacation in a suburban cul-de-sac turns restless when a secretive new family moves in next door. Ray Peterson and the men around him begin watching the house, and their suspicions quickly grow into a homegrown investigation. What starts as idle curiosity turns the neighborhood into a place of gossip, fear and escalating absurdity. The film keeps its focus on ordinary routines being disrupted by the possibility that something sinister may be hiding behind a neat front lawn.
Directed by Joe Dante, the film stars Tom Hanks as Ray Peterson, the neighbor whose boredom and suspicion drive the story. Bruce Dern appears as one of the men drawn into Ray's theories, while Carrie Fisher plays Ray's wife, who has to live with the chaos that follows his fixation. The cast plays the material as a mix of domestic frustration and comic overreaction, which gives the film its uneasy balance of laughter and menace. Released in 1989, it runs 102 minutes.
Made in the United States, the film uses a familiar suburban setting to turn fences, basements and backyards into sources of dread. Its tone is darkly comic, with paranoia and small-town nosiness pushing the story toward horror elements without losing its satirical edge. The result is a playful but uneasy portrait of neighbors who cannot stop imagining the worst.
Directed by Joe Dante, the film stars Tom Hanks as Ray Peterson, the neighbor whose boredom and suspicion drive the story. Bruce Dern appears as one of the men drawn into Ray's theories, while Carrie Fisher plays Ray's wife, who has to live with the chaos that follows his fixation. The cast plays the material as a mix of domestic frustration and comic overreaction, which gives the film its uneasy balance of laughter and menace. Released in 1989, it runs 102 minutes.
Made in the United States, the film uses a familiar suburban setting to turn fences, basements and backyards into sources of dread. Its tone is darkly comic, with paranoia and small-town nosiness pushing the story toward horror elements without losing its satirical edge. The result is a playful but uneasy portrait of neighbors who cannot stop imagining the worst.
Reviews
6.8 / 10