The 'burbs (1989)

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1989
Running Times: 101 mins
Format: colour     35mm
Ratio: 1.85:1
Sound: Dolby

CREDITS

PRODUCTION
Production Company: Imagine Entertainment / A Rollins-Morra-Brezner Production
Executive Producer: Ron Howard
Producers: Larry Brezner, Michael Finnell
Associate Producer: Pat Kehoe
Co-Producer: Dana Olsen
Unit Production Manager: Pat Kehoe
Production Coordinator: Karen Shaw

SCRIPT
Script: Dana Olsen

DIRECTION
Director: Joe Dante
1st Assistant Director: Carla McCloskey
2nd Assistant Director: David D'Ovidio

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Robert M. Stevens
Camera Operator: Allen D. Easton
Key Grip: Charles Saldana
Cameras and Lenses: Panavision
Labs: DeLuxe

EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Editor: Marshall Harvey
Apprentice Editor: Ilana Ben-Gigi
Assistant Editor: Uri Katoni

MUSIC
Music: Jerry Goldsmith
Additional Music: Ennio Morricone (from Il mio nome è Nessuno (1973) (uncredited))
Songs: Alex Mitchell, Ricky Beck Mahler, Gary Sunshine (Machine); Mickey Finn, Fernie Rod, Billy Rowe, Mark Radice (Bloodstone); Giuseppe Verdi (Questa o quella from Rigoletto); Mickey Finn, Fernie Rod, Billy Rowe, Sam Yaffa (Locked In a Cage); Mickey Finn, Fernie Rod, Billy Rowe, Ron Tostenson, Sam Yaffa (Make Some Noise)
Songs Performed By: Circus of Power (Machine); Jetboy (Bloodstone; Locked In a Cage; Make Some Noise); Enrico Caruso (Questa o quella from Rigoletto)
Orchestrator: Arthur Morton

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Ken King
Re-Recording Mixers: Gary C. Bourgeois, Michael Minkler
Supervising Sound Editor: Mark A. Mangini
Co-Supervising Sound Editor: George Simpson
Dubbing Engineer: Derek Casari
Sound Effects: Mark A. Mangini

COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Make Up: Michael Germain, Daniel C. Striepeke
Costume Designer: Rosanna Norton

SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects Supervisors: Michael Owens, Ken Pepiot

VISUAL EFFECTS
Visual Effects: Industrial Light and Magic
Special Visual Effects: Peter Kuran
Visual Effects Art Director: Bill George

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: James Spencer
Art Directors: William George, Charles L. Hughes
Set Designers: Erin M. Cummins, James E. Tocci, Judy Cammer, Michael Johnson
Set Decorator: John Anderson
Constructor: John Ceppi
Lead Man: Charles R. Lipscomb

OTHER CREW
Production Accountant: Julianna Arenson
Transportation Coordinator: Randy White

LOCATIONS
Locations: Los Angeles, California, USA
Studio: Universal Studios, Universal City, California, USA

STUNTS
Stunt Coordinator: Jeff Smolek
Stunts: Roydon Clark, Danny Costa, Gary Epper, Sandy Gimpel, John Hateley, Eddie Hice, Gary Morgan, Frank Orsatti, Jeff Ramsey, Wally Rose, Ray Saniger, Rick Sawaya, John-Clay Scott, Jeff Smolek, George P. Wilbur, Brian Williams

CASTING
Casting: Mike Fenton, Judy Taylor

CAST
Tom Hanks (Ray Peterson)
Bruce Dern (Mark Rumsfield)
Carrie Fisher (Carol Peterson)
Rick Ducommun (Art Weingartner)
Corey Feldman (Ricky Butler)
Wendy Schaal (Bonnie Rumsfield)
Henry Gibson (Dr Werner Klopek)
Brother Theodore (Uncle Reuben Klopek)
Courtney Gains (Hans Klopek)
Gale Gordon (Walter Seznick)
Dick Miller, Robert Picardo (garbagemen)
Cory Danziger (Dave Peterson)
Franklyn Ajaye (detective 1)
Rance Howard (detective 2)
Heather Haase (Ricky's girlfriend)
Nick Katt (Steve Kuntz)
Bill Stevenson, Gary Hays (Ricky's friends)
Kevin Gage, Dana Olsen (cops)
Brenda Benner (Walter's daughter)
Patrika Darbo (Art's wife)

PLOT SUMMARY

In a seemingly typical, apparently normal American suburb, the arrival of the Klopek family causes chaos. No-one's ever seen them, but the imaginations of their neighbours start to work overtime and when a local man disappears, the Klopeks – whoever they might be – come under suspicion. As the neighbourhood disintegrates around him, Ray Patterson wonders why he can't just have the quiet, lazy week off he was looking forward to...

CAPSULE REVIEW

Having successfully and gleefully exposed the darker side of American suburbia in Gremlins (1984), Dante went one step further with this superb black comedy. Wonderfully odd, Dante's direction has rarely been this good, but it's the script that's the key here. With its witty, insicive look at suburban paranoia and cast of quirky characters, all brilliantly acted, it's quite a cut above anything else released from Hollywood in the 90s. And yet, in some quarters, it remains strangely under-rated. Ignore the nay-sayers - this is one to cherish.

Argentina
Video Distributors: Argentina Video Home

Brazil
Video Distributors: CIC Vídeo

USA
Theatrical Distributors: MCA / Universal Pictures
Video Distributors: MCA / Universal Home Video
Laserdisc Distributors: MCA Home Video (40878)
DVD Distributors: Universal (20528); Universal (20528)

Argentina
Rating: 13

Australia
Rating: PG

Spain
Rating: 13

Sweden
Rating: 11 (with cuts)

UK
Rating: PG

USA
Rating: PG

West Germany
Rating: 16

1990
Young Artist Awards, USA
Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture (Cory Danziger) - nominated

1989
February
17: USA – theatrical release

March
23: Argentina – theatrical release

June
29: West Germany – theatrical release

1999
May
4: USA - DVD release (Universal (20528))

2003
May
27: USA - DVD release (Universal (20528))

2004
April
13: UK - television broadcast (on BBC1)

A comedy about one nice guy who gets pushed too far.

He's a man of peace in a savage land... Suburbia.

He's a stranger in an even stranger land... Suburbia

Life In The Burbs Will Never Be The Same Again!

Les banlieusards - French / French Canadian title
En djävul till granne - Swedish title
L'erba del vicino - Italian title
Life in the Burbs – working title
Meine teuflischen Nachbarn - West German title
Meus Vizinhos São um Terror - Brazilian title
Nabohysteri - Norwegian title
No matarás al vecino - Spanish title
Piru naapurissa - Finnish title
S.O.S. vecinos al ataque - Argentinian title

LINKS

INCLUDES FOOTAGE FROM
The Devil's Rain (1975)
The Exorcist (1973)
Felix the Cat (1960)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)

MAGAZINES

Empire October 1998 p.137 (UK)
review

Is It Uncut? no.1 p.31 (UK)
review

BOOKS

Variety Movie Guide p.85
credits

axes, basements, bones, chainsaws, dogs, dreams, hypodermic needles, the occult, old dark houses, pitchforks, satanism, skeletons, skulls, suburbia

Last Updated: 15 October, 2008