People often forget about Tom Hanks earlier works these days now that he’s know for his more serious “Oscar potential” roles. But this little gem from 1989 is one of my favourite comedies. Directed By Joe Dante (Gremlins 1+2) The Burbs tells the story of suburbanite Ray Peterson (Hanks) and his neighbours investigating the new family on the block, the Klopeks, who are, to say the least, a little reclusive.

At first Ray tries his hardest not to be suspicious, as he doesn’t want to have to deal with it. But when fellow neighbour Walter goes missing without any explanation and a femur bone is found under the Klopeks fence, Ray starts to believe that his new neighbours are up to something.

The main things I love about The Burbs are the well-written characters. There is my personal favourite, Mr Rumpsfield (played brilliantly by Bruce Dern), an ex-soldier who still lives like he’s at war. The clumsy “annoying” neighbour, Art (Rick Duccoman). Who comes over and eats all of your food. The obligatory teenage rebel, Ricky (Corey Feldman). And of course Hank’s character, Ray, whose relaxing vacation is far from relaxing.

With references to the horror genre this seems like it was made for horror fans like myself to relax too, to give us a break from a lot of the seriousness of horror movies. The direction by Dante is nice and solid and the film never has a dull moment, with plenty of memorable lines from all the characters... (“….to sit in some dank, wet cabin and wait for that neighbour with the enormous head to get drunk and fall down the stairs” – Hanks)

Another great casting job is when it comes to the role of Tom Hanks son, the kid is a dead ringer for a miniature Hanks, it’s scary. He even has the trademark eighties Hanks hair-do. All in all though, if you like black comedies, that are million times smarter and funnier than these “Ironic” black comedies we are inundated with today by the way, then you’ll no doubt love this. It’s a spot on parody of the eerie old age horrors, and is a bloody good laugh too.

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