The 'Burbs is a 1989 American black comedy film[1] directed by Joe Dante, and starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson, and Gale Gordon.

Ray and his other neighbors—nosy Art Weingartner, Vietnam War veteran Mark Rumsfield and teenager Ricky Butler—gradually suspect the Klopeks may be ritualistic murderers.

In the morning, Ray, Mark, and Art search the garbage truck for human remains after the Klopeks' trash is collected, but find nothing.

Ray collects Queenie, leaves a note for Walter, slips the toupée back in through the mail slot, and sees one of the Klopeks watching him from their house.

When the Klopeks leave, Art and Ray enter their backyard to search for Walter's corpse while Mark acts as lookout.

Finding nothing in the yard, Art and Ray break into the Klopeks' basement, discover what appears to be a crematorium, and dig deep into the floor in search of human remains.

Werner enters and accuses Ray of having seen a human skull in the basement furnace, revealing that the Klopeks murdered the previous homeowners so they could live in their house.

Additional minor roles were played by Dick Miller and Robert Picardo as garbagemen Vic and Joe; Franklyn Ajaye and Rance Howard as detectives; Bill Stevenson, Gary Hays, and Carey Scott as Ricky's friends; and Kevin Gage and Dana Olsen as policemen.

Screenwriter Dana Olsen based the script on experiences from his own childhood: "I had an ultranormal middle-class upbringing, but our town had its share of psychos.

It was greeted with a warm reception from Imagine co-founder Brian Grazer: "I liked the concept of a regular guy taking a vacation in his own neighborhood, plus it was funny and well written.

"[4] Dante, who had directed Gremlins and Innerspace, and his partner, Michael Finnell, were immediately impressed by the concept of the movie.

"[4] Dante had been developing Little Man Tate (later made by Jodie Foster) but that project collapsed when offered the script which was then called Bay Window.

"[5] Dante, Brezner, and Finnell agreed that Tom Hanks would be the most suitable actor to portray the married Ray Peterson, a conservative man who tries to introduce excitement into his life by investigating the activities of his strange neighbors.

"[4] Hanks accepted the role of Ray with enthusiasm, later saying "What's so bizarrely interesting about this black psychocomedy is that the stuff that goes on in real life in a regular neighborhood will make your hair stand up on the back of your neck.

"[4] Hanks found admiration for Dante's directorial style, saying "Joe has a stylized, visionary way of looking at the entire movie.

"[4] The 'Burbs was filmed entirely at Universal Studios over ten weeks in the summer of 1988, mainly on the Colonial Street set on the back lot, which served as the Mayfield Place cul-de-sac.

[7] To ensure the set would fit the tone of his film, Dante said, "I asked [production designer] James Spencer, a veteran of Poltergeist and Gremlins, if he thought he could turn that street into the neighborhood we needed in that period of time.

[9] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it two out of four stars, writing "The 'Burbs tries to position itself somewhere between Beetlejuice and The Twilight Zone, but it lacks the dementia of the first and the wicked intelligence of the second and turns instead into a long shaggy dog story.

The site's critical consensus reads, "The 'Burbs has an engaging premise, likable cast, and Joe Dante at the helm – so the mixed-up genre exercise they produce can't help but feel like a disappointment.

[15] The edition included a commentary by screenwriter Dana Olsen, a newly commissioned feature-length documentary titled There Goes the Neighborhood: The Making of 'The 'Burbs'.

[19] Additional music used in the film but not included on the soundtrack albums includes "Machine" by Circus of Power; "Se Sei Qualcuno è Colpa Mia" by Ennio Morricone; "Questa o Quella" by Enrico Caruso; and "Locked in a Cage", "Make Some Noise", and "Bloodstone" by Jetboy.

Keke Palmer is headlining the series, with Brian Grazer and Seth MacFarlane producing through Imagine Entertainment and Fuzzy Door Productions respectively.