Chad

Toddarino

I usually watch this a couple times a year. A few months ago I rewatched the workprint version that’s on the Shout disc. This time I opted for theatrical. Joe Dante had a pretty great career for a while there.

clckworang

I miss this era of Tom Hanks. He made a lot of movies that were just fun back in the day. He's always so serious now in his movie choices. Great cast. I wish Fisher was able to be in more things. She always had such a sharp wit that came through. This is a movie very of its time, but I think the humor and the overall situation (paranoia about neighbor) is still relatable.

WillieMLF

Workprint here. I was looking all over the place to stream this on the way home. This is streaming nowhere! I have the Arrow blu, and had to dig it out once I got home. The comedy hit me just right, and I had some great laughs. Ducommun is one hell of a crazy neighbor. I’m sure it would get old, but he makes for some great lines. ‘My husband is sick, and he can't come out until he resembles the man that I married.’ ‘Carol, we don’t have that kind of time.’

coyoteblue

I've watched this movie umpteen times, and I think this is the first time I noticed that the elderly neighbor Walter (Gale Gordon) has a picture of himself and Lucille Ball sitting on his television (at 36:56 and 37:11). At least I don't remember noticing before now. I don't know if I never noticed or I just forget between watches.

Toddarino

I noticed the exact same thing tonight.

Crocker Jarmen

I saw this at the theatre when it came out in '88, and being 10 years old was the perfect age. I liked the comedy, I dug the adventure of these guys banding together to spy on their neighbours, and the atmosphere of the movie genuinely creeped out. The story of Skip and the smell of his house is delivered so seriously. It sounds like a real story. Sure, this one probably didn't happen, but I believe stuff like that does happen, that a man snaps and murders his entire family and then just goes on with his normal life, not even disposing of the bodies, just waiting to get caught. The adventure and the creepiness is what I remembered the most. Other than Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, I can't think of other movies I would have seen at that time that were telling a serious story (well, "serious" to a 10 year old) but with comedic moments from the characters.

When I re-watch it, I'm seeing it again from that perspective. If I didn't see this until I was in my twenties, or thirties, I don't think I would like it very much as movie. I enjoy it, but it doesn't make me laugh.

What does make me laugh, though, is this great outtake of Dick Miller getting grumpy at Corey Feldman*




* Another reason I loved the movie, I had this intense non-sexual crush on Feldman at the time. In Grade 4 I would get the girls at school to give me the pictures of Feldman from their teen magazines and past them all over my wall. So having my favorite star in the movie also made it memerable.

jholmes

I know I saw this years and years ago, but didn't remember anything. It's nice to have a lighter comedy at this stage of the challenge. I admit, the middle lost me a bit. I started browsing on my phone --never a good sign. But once they snuck into the basement it picked back up for me. The ending, where Hanks has the hissy outside the house with the cops there and then throws himself into the ambulance is pure comic gold. And I loved Carrie Fisher in this even though she had a smaller role. Just a great cast all around.

WillieMLF

I watched the entire workprint, then rewatched the ending of the theatrical to see how much they diverged. I couldn't figure why Feldman was in the movie, because he didn't do much other than fill in some narration detail. Most of what ended up in the workprint could have been cut out.

Where Hanks has that hissy at the ending of the movie took me back to The Money Pit, when he was melting down about the bills.

dsa_shea

This is a great movie and I need to watch it again. I've never got around to watching the workprint. In regards to the post above about a man murdering his whole family and just going on with his life, read this true case.

https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=132646&page=1

SterlingBen

I listened to Corey Feldmans autobiography earlier this year and got to say for a drug addict he presents really well. He talked about Joe Dante and Carrie Fisher trying to have an intervention type conversation with and how in one scene he was shaking so much that it took forever to get the shot. But on screen the guy works.

numbercrunch

A fun, light hearted horror comedy with an all star cast. Just a fun time.
Bruce Dern was my favorite actor in the film. Carrie Fisher was a bit under utilized and the middle drags.
7/10

wishbone

One of the few '80s era Tom Hanks films I do not think I have seen prior to this challenge. Tom Hanks and cast definitely help move this one along. Pizza dude!

Undeadcow

There is a subtle increasingly simmering shift from relatable picket fences suburbia with more and more zany comedy towards a conclusion where the neighborhood is dark and unrecognizable. Joe Dante is a master of tone here. The aimless plot with hysteria building on hysteria over filled with false bravado and mistaken insinuation is great. Jerry Goldstein’s score is a home run making so much of this work. It feels like a cop out that in the end the neighbors were murderous.

Great cast. Rick Ducommun (Art) does well and seems prolific but surprisingly less known out of the crew.

I remember renting The Burbs on VHS as a kid (I was 8 when it came out) and really enjoying it; I was glad to revisit it enjoyed it today.

It is remarkable how Tom Hanks has gone from these fun comedy roles to become one of the most impressive actors of our time.
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