Guide to Nightmare Neighbors

The 'burbs is a darkly playful vision of suburban hell from director Joe Dante, part gothic wasteland and part Bugs Bunny cartoon, as stressed-out Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks, back when he did funny movies), taking a week off from work, and his weirdo neighbors (Bruce Dern and Rick Ducommun) become suspicious of the family that lives in the creepy house down the block. No one ever sees the Klopeks, but you can hear weird noises coming from their basement at night, and when an elderly man from the neighborhood suddenly disappears, the trio set out to prove their theory that the Klopeks are part of a cannibalistic cult. A silly but amusing tale of boredom turning into (possibly) delusional fantasy, The 'burbs offers up an even more twisted view of middle America than director Dante's other ode to suburbia, Gremlins, as pretty much everyone in the movie is a nightmare neighbor in one way or another - even poor, hapless Ray Peterson.