The Burbs is a comedy/thriller depicting a bunch of suburban dwellers that take note of their new neighbors and their rather odd eccentricities. When one of their longtime neighbors go missing they suspect the Kolpeks of murder, but find no evidence of foul play. Eventually Ray and Art end up blowing the Kolpeks’ home up when Ray hits a gas line while digging for remains in the basement. In a fun and shocking twist though the Kolpeks admit to murdering the former residents of the home, right before they try to kill Ray and are then implicated in the deaths of said individuals.
It’s a chilling laugh riot just about the whole way through.
10. The poodle that plays Queenie is the same poodle that plays Precious in Silence of the Lambs.
The fact that dogs have agents at this point is less ridiculous than it used to be. Seeing as how some of them are so well-trained it’s easy to see how they could be used over and over for various roles.
9. Tom Hanks improvised one funny scene.
The part where he picks up the stretcher and tosses it in the ambulance before collapsing on top of it again wasn’t scripted but it was kept since it was funny.
8. The prop master had to make fake dog poop.
The actors didn’t want to step in the real thing so the prop master made some out of canned dog food, bean dip, and other materials. It was then squeezed out of a caulking gun when needed.
7. The film takes place in one location.
The film never goes out of the neighborhood, but the director was tempted to do so.
6. The movie was shot on a Universal back lot.
This same lot has been used for other movies and TV shows, notably Desperate Housewives. There’s even a house that was used for the Munsters.
5. Tom Hanks was hesitant to do the film.
This was the first film in which he played someone’s dad and he didn’t know if he would be able to go back to his original image. He agreed to do it obviously after being convinced.
4. There’s a sled with the name Rosebud on it in the Klopek’s basement.
This is kind of a fun reference to the movie Citizen Kane. A lot of people might not have spotted it.
3. This is one of two Tom Hanks films to come out in the same year.
The other was Turner & Hooch, in which he plays a detective that has to take on a rascally dog and has to deal with the resulting mess that the dog brings.
2. In the original ending Dr. Klopek was supposed to kill Ray.
Once Tom Hanks was cast for the part it was believed that people wouldn’t want to see him killed near the end of the movie, so the script was changed.
1. Carrie Fisher’s words foreshadow what will happen in the movie.
She alluded to someone falling off of the roof and someone getting set on fire. Well, someone did fall off the roof and Ray did set himself on fire, technically.
Suburbanites are crazy, according to this film.
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