From The Grave
THERE GOES THE NEIGHBORHOOD
You might think that Joe Dante’s 1989 film The Burbs would have aged horribly. A lot in society has changed since its release; 9/11, economy, a black president, first Triple Crown in a horse race in thirty-five years. Sure those things have happened, but as people, we haven’t changed a lick. We’re still nosey and willing to jump to conclusions. And the neighbors in this dark comedy make you point fingers and say, “I know someone like that!”
The film begins with Ray Petersen (Tom Hanks.) having one of his sleepless nights, ventures outside. He wanders close to a gothic looking house owned by the Klopeks. There are strange rumblings going on under their lawn and as soon as Ray steps off their lawn, the rumblings disappear.
In the morning, Ray goes outside to retrieve his newspaper. This is where you meet the rest of the neighbors. Walter (Gale Gordon), who is just a tad effeminate, lets his dog roam free to defecate on anyone’s lawn, Ricky Butler (Corey Feldman) the neighborhood stoner and Vietnam vet Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) are opposite ends of the spectrum. Ray likes to watch his neighbors and this rubs his wife Carol (Carrie Fisher) the wrong way. Ray is on vacation and she wants them to take a trip to the lake. Walter is just fine to laze around the house and do nothing. Carol knows different. She knows Ray is going to be a goofball and get into trouble with his equally goofy best friend and neighbor Art (Rick Ducommun).
The Gothic house looks like no one else’s in the Cul de sac. Dark, spooky, something out of the Munsters or Addams Family TV shows. Art challenges Ray to knock on the Klopeks door. Apparently, the Klopeks have yet to make an appearance. None of the neighbors have met them at all. So Art and Ray walk over to that house to force an introduction. Art steps onto the porch and immediately a portly leg falls through. Ray helps him and they ring the doorbell. The doorbell falls apart and a swarm of yellow jackets attack Ray and Art.
During a rainstorm one night, Ray sees the Klopeks in their backyard digging what looks like graves. In the morning Art stops two garbage men from dumping trash cans (One of the garbage men is played by Dick Miller.) belonging to Klopeks. Meanwhile Carol and Ray are having an argument about him staying around the house spying on the neighbors. She still wants to go to the lake, Ray wants to bum around all day in his pajamas, when their son Dave burst in to tell Ray that Art is throwing the neighborhood garbage in the street.
Rumsfield’s wife finds Walter in her yard; the dog is dirty like it had been digging. Ray tells Rumsfield, Art, and Ricky that he spotted the Klopeks digging graves. But he justifies it as they were fisherman, looking for night crawlers. They discover that Walter is not in his house and it was odd he left his dog behind, and his toupee. Paranoia ensues. Ray writes Walter a note that his dog is at his house, but it reads like a ransom note. He then sees one of the Klopeks (Brother Theodore.) is looking out of his window. Klopek closes his window, ignoring Ray.
Ray and Art are in the basement, reading “The practice of Demonology”, discussing all the supernatural things the Klopeks could be and the possibility that Walter was one of their victims. Art tries to convince Ray to that this is good vs. Evil. “We can go down to the Religious store and get a couple of gallons of holy water, my cousin Jerry is a priest. He can get us a good deal.”
One of the best scenes is after Ray explains to Carol that the Klopeks are Satanists, he switches the channel on his TV to watch a few key scenes of great horror films such as The Exorcist and Texas chainsaw massacre, not to mention a woman being sacrificed. The look on Tom Hanks face is worth a thousand words, and tells the story of how a person can get wrapped up in Paranoia. This morphs into one of Ray’s stress dreams, going downstairs to discover he is alone in a house and a chainsaw rips through a wall toward him. He hears Carol’s voice as mist clouds the room, and she tells him the Klopeks are over for a BBQ. Hands reach out and place Ray on an oversized grill. People with horned sacks on their heads tie Ray down as Art’s voice is heard chanting, “Satan is good, Satan is your pal.”
"A lot in society has changed since its release..."
Next up is a key scene and one of the funniest. Art and Rumsfield ring the Klopeks doorbell, and slip them a note saying “I know what you did”. Art wakes Ray up to argue about how idiotic that gesture was, when Ray’s dog brings them a bone. Art tosses the bone, telling the dog he is a good boy. The dog brings it back, Art grabs the bone, ready to toss it again, and then realizes that it resembles a femur…. a human thigh bone! They see where the dog had dug under the fence, where the property line lies over on the Klopeks yard. They decide the bone was once Walter’s femur and begin screaming like the idiots they are. Later on, the neighbors decide to meet Klopeks and this is where Dr, Klopek (Henry Gibson) enters, shaking Ray’s hands, wearing what appears to be bloody gloves.
The Burbs was not critically acclaimed and again, just like John Carpenter’s In the Mouth of Madness; I don’t understand why critics bashed this film. From the trailer you can see what the makers have presented to you, and funnily, the film could have been darker in tone. Dante didn’t go in that direction. Instead, he kept it light, almost a satire of all the Hitchcock films. After Gremlins and Matinee, this is definitely Dante’s best work. The comedy is right on the money; speaking of which, just as I was writing this article and re-watching the film, Rick Ducommun passed away. He was a great character actor (Scary movie, Spaceballs, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, The Experts, The Last Boy Scout, Encino Man, Last Action Hero.) He was a talented comedic actor who didn’t step over his costars lines and he just naturally stole the scenes he was in. RIP Mr. Ducommun, character actors of your talent are sorely missed in today’s Hollywood.
Another shout out goes to Carrie Fisher; I’m not a huge fan of hers outside of Star Wars, but she underplays her role to great distinction. She added to an already well rounded character, and basically, was like a normal person who happened to be married to an idiot.
The neighborhood was shot on the Universal lot. The set had also been on another Tom Hanks film, Dragnet. According to Wikipedia; the first DVD release of The 'Burbs was Region 1, which contains English and French language. This release includes an alternate ending in which Werner Klopek attempts to kill Ray but is caught in the act by Rumsfield and Carol. While being arrested, he gives a satirical monologue about why he moved to the suburbs.
This was followed in 2004 by the European/Australian Region 2/4 release entitled The 'Burbs Uncut. The 'uncut' in the title refers only to scenes removed from the TV versions which are present on the DVD; there is nothing additional from the theatrical release.
Arrow Video released The 'Burbs on Blu-ray in 2014 in the UK. The edition included a commentary by screenwriter Dana Olsen, a newly commissioned feature-length documentary and a work print with temporary music and deleted scenes provided by Joe Dante himself (who also helped in the restoration of the film). The deleted scenes included, among other things, a Kevin McCarthy cameo, a dropped subplot about Ray's job problems and different versions of some scenes. Jerry Goldsmith wonderful score has been released on CD as well.
Do yourself a favor and find this hilarious dark comedy. After you see it, you’ll definitely say to yourself, “Why didn’t I see this when it first came out?”
Mark Slade, HMS
Read the previous installment.