The Burbs Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

The Burbs Blu-ray Movie Review

Curiosity killed the neighborhood.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 28, 2016

The 'Burbs is one of the darker Comedies in memory, but then again, isn't reality really creepy behind the well-manicured, white picket fence façade of everyday life? The humorously eerie tale of obsessive neighbors grows ever darker the deeper they dig into the private affairs of the new arrivals across the street. It isn't enough for them to respect the newcomers' privacy. They need to know. From the need to know is born something almost inhuman, a frightening (but still relatively light...it is a Comedy, after all) all-consuming drive to get to the bottom of things and unearth the truth, things and truths seemingly, even through mounting evidence, of their own making. Imaginations run wild in The 'Burbs (or do they?) and the film is, at its core, a masterwork examination of the human condition, mental manipulation, the way the mind can almost immediately disconnect from any semblance of reality in search of answers to questions that really don't need to be asked (or do they?).

The three paranoid amigos.

An otherwise peaceful little cul-de-sac is about to get crazy when three neighbors -- the stressed-out Ray (Tom Hanks), the chubby Art (Rick Ducommun), and the ex-soldier Mark (Bruce Dern) begin to suspect foul play at their new neighbor's, the Klopek's, house. It's bad enough that the house is crumbling and the yard is a mess. There's more. Strange lights and sounds explode from the basement at all hours of the night. Trash is driven from the garage to the curb under cover of darkness. The mysterious family digs in the backyard in the driving rain. It would be enough to raise anyone's suspicions, but for these three, the family's odd habits become an obsession. Things take a turn for the worst when one of their neighbors disappears. It appears foul play may have been involved. The men suspect the new family of taking him, or worse, and go to great lengths to discover where their neighbor has gone and the truth behind the weirdos next door.

Director Joe Dante's (Gremlins) film can be summarized as "conspiracy theories run wild in the suburbs." Everyday life -- and maybe more damaging to the nutso cul-de-sac, routine -- is upset with the arrival of mysterious new neighbors. That upset leads to gossip. Which becomes hushed whispers laced with doubt and fear. Which becomes conspiracy-laden paranoia. Which becomes an unhealthy obsession. Which becomes spying. Snooping. Breaking and entering. And who knows what else might happen when the neighborhood's eccentrics gather to find the, or their, truth. The film works as well as it does, in its driving story arc, because the script is well constructed, putting together just the right volatile mixture of characters who, individually, might only raise an eyebrow and mumble under his breath about an unkempt yard or new less-than-ideal neighbors. Maybe the most fiery of the bunch may throw a few direct jabs when pushed hard enough. But together...together...the temperature rises considerably and whispers become screams, screams laced with everything from curiosity to fear and the formation of some trance-like passion of paranoia. Some of the film's humor tends to get lost in the underlying, but never unmistakable, darkness that courses through it. The movie is almost a freak show by the end. The questions, then, are who are the truly bad neighbors and was there any merit to their ever-increasing suspicions?

The film's all-star cast is strong, too, with the primaries -- Hanks, Ducommun, and Dern -- showing a fantastic ability to slowly approach and, finally, dive into the proverbial dark rabbit hole of obsession and paranoia. The camaraderie comes naturally as their curiosity blossoms into cohesion and cohesion into chaos. Dante directs with a confidence that never betrays the movie's uneasy narrative and underlying humor. He balances the two rather well, as difficult a task as that may be, capturing both the intimate character details and the broader storyline, action, and mild Horror elements with ease, a combination he mastered a few years earlier in Gremlins. The film does struggle with pace through its middle, where the conspiracies evolve and the characters' mental stability begins to deteriorate. Editing in this area, crucial both as a follow-through on story establishment in the first act and the big finale in the third, drags the total down a bit when it grows almost tiresomely repetitive. Otherwise, The 'Burbs is an entertaining and eerie movie that holds up well, and will continue to hold up well so long as people are people and they're clustered tightly together in, essentially, randomized groupings anywhere in the world.

The Burbs Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The 'Burbs occasionally looks good on Blu-ray, but the presentation's problems, in most scenes, are hard to miss. Detail fluctuates between slightly above average and middling, with crisp, well-manicured grass, scrapes on a trash truck, and old and weathered wood and accents around the Kopek home showing enough raw definition to please. Facial and clothing textures rarely find much tangible definition, often appearing not so much smooth, just abnormally flat and devoid of all but the crudest, most basic details. Color fluctuation is also commonplace. Green grass, an American flag, and other truly bright colors sometimes come across with plenty of punchy saturation, but the palette can be equally dull and fatigued. Black levels follow suit. Occasionally deep and dark but often favoring a pale, worn-down, desaturated appearance, nighttime exteriors struggle to maintain depth and authenticity. Grain is uneven, thicker and buzzing in places and virtually absent in others. The image looks processed and wildly uneven, favoring the lesser qualities. It's more than watchable, but it's almost never fully agreeable.

The Burbs Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 'Burbs features a pedestrian, straightforward, crudely simple, but baseline effective DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack. The presentation at least manages to stretch a fair ways out to the sides. Music's push isn't substantial, and neither is clarity, but there's enough distance and definition to satisfy the broadest of needs. Light nighttime ambient effects, such as hooting owls and chirping crickets, enjoy a generally satisfying shove out to the edges. Heavier elements like driving rain, booming thunder, and a few other more aggressive effects in the film (not listed to avoid spoilers) present with muddy clarity but enough punch and push to the sides to offer an illusion of place. Dialogue manages to drift to the middle with enough definition to satisfy requirements.

The Burbs Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All that's included with this Blu-ray release of The 'Burbs is an Alternate Ending (480i, 6:35) and the film's theatrical trailer (480i, 1:33). No top menu is included. All extras, chapter selections, and audio/subtitle options must be selected in-film via the pop-up menu. Note that the Arrow Blu-ray from 2014 contains significantly more content.

The Burbs Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The 'Burbs may not be a classic in the sense that it's one of the great films of all time, but it's a mainstay that dabbles in human psychology, comedy, and horror and holds up well because its story is both relatable and, in some form or fashion, right on the fingertips of anyone who has ever had nosy neighbors, been one themselves, or chosen to live with the blinds drawn and out of the neighborhood eye. Joe Dante's film rolls with that mix of dark scares and light humor smartly and effectively, slowed down only by an occasionally sluggish middle stretch. Universal's Blu-ray is disappointingly devoid of the larger supplemental package the film deserves (and that has been released elsewhere). Video is bland and audio merely satisfies requirements. Recommended only because of the quality of the film and the low price point.