History Film / TheBurbs

* NosyNeighbor: Ray and his friends become obsessed with uncovering the Klopeks' secrets in a rare example of this trope being applied to the protagonists. They get an example of their own with Ricky Butler, the teen who spends the whole film watching their bumbling antics from his house as entertainment and even [[WildTeenParty invites his friends to watch as well]] in the film's climax.

* AsideGlance: ''"God, I love this street."''

* OneHourWorkWeek: Ray is on a one-week staycation, but no one else has an excuse for why they're at home all week during the day. Carol and Bonnie might be housewives, and Rumsfield might be old enough to be retired, but Art just doesn't seem to have a job.

* NosyNeighbor: Ray and his friends.

* BlackComedy

* ComicalAngryFace: Reuben, Hans' uncle who is quite the hothead.

* DeconstructiveParody: Of StepfordSuburbia thrillers. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, when after all of the slapstick insanity and the What The Hell Hero speech from an ashamed protagonist, it turns out that being suspicious of the Klopeks ''[[NoMereWindmill was]]'' the right thing to do.]]

* RareGuns: Rumsfield's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine#Carbine.2C_Cal_.30.2C_M3 M3 Carbine]]. Yeah, the one with the nightscope. Only about 3,000 were made before the scope was made obsolete by passive night vision devices. Qualifies as a [[CoolGuns Cool Gun]], too.

* AdultFear: In spades. Lampshaded by a long story narrated by Art about a neighbor from the distant past who murdered his whole family and left them in the basement to rot in the middle of a summer heat wave.

* BigEater: The second thing we see Art do is invite himself to two helpings of breakfast with the Petersons, grab several more munchies from their fridge, eat Ray's leftovers, and then, after finishing, ask if Ray wants to go to town to pick up a sandwich. He later snatches some vittles from a bowl Carol was holding [[IAteWhat that turns out to be the dog's food]].

''The Burbs'' is a 1989 BlackComedy film directed by Creator/JoeDante, starring Creator/TomHanks, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/CarrieFisher, Creator/CoreyFeldman, and Creator/HenryGibson.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_burbs_1989.jpg]]

''The Burbs'' is a 1989 dark comedy about a group of "normal" suburbanites who suspect that something very sinister is going on in the home of their rarely-seen foreign neighbors. It's directed by Creator/JoeDante and stars Creator/TomHanks, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/CarrieFisher and Creator/CoreyFeldman.

* TheAllegedHouse: The Klopeks house is every bit as derelict as those of those old-school horror movies and stands out like a sore thumb with the other houses on the street. The only thing that the Klopeks seem to care about is making sure that the security system is working corretly [[spoiler:and the boiler in the basement]]. As a result, there's lots of physical comedy that ensues when the protagonists try to sneak in at the climax.

'''Ray''': Shut up. [[BigShutUp SHUT UP, ART, SHUT UP!]] God, you don't know when to quit, do you? Look at me! I'm a shell of a man because of you, Art! Remember what you were saying about people in the 'burbs, Art, people like Skip, people who mow their lawn for the 800th time, and then [[SuddenlyShouting SNAP?!? WELL, THAT'S US! IT'S NOT THEM, THAT'S US!!!]] [[HeelRealization WE'RE the ones who are vaulting over the fences, and peeking in through people's windows! We're the ones who are THROWING GARBAGE IN THE STREET, AND LIGHTING FIRES! WE'RE THE ONES WHO ARE ACTING SUSPICIOUS AND PARANOID, ART! WE'RE THE LUNATICS! US! IT'S NOT THEM!]] It's us.\\

* BeeAfraid: When Ray and Art attempt first contact with the Klopeks, using the door knocker causes the address plaque to fall and knock the porch light off, releasing a swarm of bees from a hole in the wall that immediately attack both of them. Whether this was because the bees were a LivingWeapon / AttackAnimal, or just representative of the degree that the house has been neglected is up to you...it's [[RuleOfFunny funny]] either way.

* TheAllegedHouse: The Klopeks house is every bit as derelict as those of those old-school horror movies and stands out like a sore thumb with the other houses on the street. The only thing that the Klopeks seem to care about is making sure that the security system is working corretly
[[spoiler:and the boiler in the basement]]. As a result, there's lots of physical comedy that ensues when the protagonists try to sneak in at the climax.

[[spoiler:and the boiler in the basement]].
As a result, there's lots of physical comedy that ensues when the protagonists try to sneak in at the climax.

* TheAllegedHouse: The Klopeks house is every bit as derelict as those of those old-school horror movies and stands out like a sore thumb with the other houses on the street. The only thing that the Klopeks seem to care about is making sure that the security system is working corretly [[spoiler:and the boiler on the basement]]. As a result, lots of physical comedy ensues when the protagonists try to sneak in at the climax.

* TheAllegedHouse: The Klopeks are as every bit as derelict as those of those old-school horror movies and stands out like a sore thumb with the other houses on the street. The only thing that the Klopeks seem to care about is making sure that the security system is working corretly [[spoiler:and the boiler on the basement]]. As a result, lots of physical comedy ensues when the protagonists try to sneak in at the climax.

* TheAllegedHouse: The Klopeks' is every bit as derelict as those of old-school horror movies and stands out like a sore thumb with the other houses on the street. The only thing that the Klopeks seem to care about making sure is working right is the security system [[spoiler:and the boiler on the basement]]. As a result, lots of physical comedy ensues when the protagonists try to sneak in at the climax.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:If the Klopeks didn't try to murder Ray by hijacking the ambulance he's in due to thinking he actually seen evidence of their serial killing, they would escaped freely with Ray being in prison for all he did to their home.]]

* UglyGuyHotWife: Mr. and Mrs. Rumsfield. He's a wiry, wild-haired CrazySurvivalist and she's a MsFanservice who looks about twenty years younger then him. This is never really even commented on, let alone played for laughs.

* IdiotBall: The Klopeks are so terrible at diverting suspicion that it's a wonder it took years for any of their neighbors to ever suspect them. [[spoiler:Dr. Klopek grabs the ball even tighter by trying to kill Ray in an ambulance surrounded by police.]]

An unusually grim 1989 comedy about a group of "normal" suburbanites who suspect that something very sinister is going on in the home of their rarely-seen foreign neighbors. It's directed by Creator/JoeDante and stars Creator/TomHanks, Creator/BruceDern, Creator/CarrieFisher and Creator/CoreyFeldman.

** You can tell something is a little off with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reRU20wxx8U that logo]] because it's still the '70s/'80s Universal logo, which isn't CGI in other movies, but this globe obviously is. This is because of another studio (Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic) doing this particular logo.
*** Also, the typefaces for "Universal" and "An MCA Company" [[OffModel are different]].

* DeconstructiveParody: [[spoiler:Of StepfordSuburbia thrillers. Subverted in the end, when after all of the slapstick insanity and the WhatTheHellHero speech from an ashamed protagonist, it turns out that being suspicious of the Klopeks ''[[NoMereWindmill was]]'' the right thing to do.]]

* FauxAffablyEvil: [[spoiler:Doctor Klopek.]]

* FreezeFrameBonus: When Ray and the crew break into Walter's house to find out what's happened to him, the camera cuts to a shot of his television at an angle. Sitting on top of his TV are photos of his family, in particular there's one prominently in view of him and his late wife... an attentive watcher might notice that it's actually a photo of [[spoiler:Lucille Ball! Gale Gordon and Lucille Ball worked together in many shows including ''Series/ILoveLucy'' and "Here's Lucy". It's entirely possible that this was actually a production photo from "Life With Lucy", which was their last TV show that they both appeared together on.]]

** The biggest idiot ball for [[spoiler:Dr.Klopek is if he just kept silent and let Ray get arrested then he would have not only got away with murder he would have had the time to clean up any potential evidence he assumed Ray found.]]
*** [[spoiler:To be fair, Dr. Klopek thought Ray knew about the bodies and [[ObfuscatingStupidity was just playing dumb]] so he could tell everything to the police.]]

* RunningGag: ''"Yo, Rumsfield!"''