Disc Reviews

The Burbs Blu-ray Review

10th Sep 2014

Just what are the new mysterious neighbours up to? That’s the question on the locals minds when the Klopecs move in. A shady looking family unit who keep to themselves, fire up the basement furnace at night, and indulge in a bit of garden digging (in the miuddle of the night in stormy weather).

Tom hanks, Bruce Dern and the rest of the natives set about spying on the new neighbours, and become all the more suspicious when one of their local residents goes missing!

This black comedy (pseudo-horror) from Joe Dante arrived in the middle of Dante’s heyday after Explorers, Gremlins and Innerspace. The film has dated fairly well thanks to Dante’s colourful design for the film and the humour projected by the cast. Hanks is as animated as he ever was at this point of his career. Bruce Dern adds great value as the local war veteran. Carrie Fisher and Corey Feldman add balance in their supporting roles.

Rick Ducommun as best friend/slobby neighbour (the kind who literally lets himself into your home and then helps himself to your breakfast as he chews your ear off) might be more of a sore point with viewers. Having seen the film as a child I think it’s safe to say that kids will find him funny. 25 odd years later he may have the opposite effect for adults.

The film at times is a remarkably brave commentary on the old neighbourhood watch and how we perceive one and other. If only the film had the nerve to stick to its initial outcome at the end it may have made for an even braver commentary. Sadly the film takes a wimp-out nosedive to keep safe audiences happy in that fact that our “Heroes” are right – despite their shocking behaviour.

Arrow Video have put together the best package they can. Deleted material, a work print cut of the film, interviews and marketing tools – it’s all here. There is also a commentary where host Callum Waddell takes a walk down memory lane with the screenwriter of the film.

The main making of gets in a few of the supporting players and some of the key crew (including Dante) and they re-tread the production of the movie. You can’t help but wonder how much more informative it would have been if any of the top 4 cast members had time to give on the subject. But to be fair there is plenty of info splashing around here about the making of the film.

The audio is fine for the film and the picture is an upgrade for sure but still does suffer a bit of noise for what we can get these days on Blu-ray.

The Burbs is flawed for sure, but the strong idea and the strong visual tone that Dante gave the film makes it a film easy to return to. But then Dante made so many other films this decade you’d want to watch first. Hopefully Arrow can get their mitts on some of these! Thankfully Arrow have packaged this (Yes including a decent Steelbook edition) as well as they can and made it a worthy buy.