50 Fun Facts About The 'Burbs

Who directed The 'Burbs?

Dante brought his usual mix of comedy and horror to a single suburban street.

What is the name of Tom Hanks's character?

Ray is a suburban homeowner who decides to spend his week's vacation at home, and instantly regrets it.

In what year was The 'Burbs released?

It opened at number one on the Presidents' Day weekend and went on to become a cult favourite.

What does the reclusive family next door do late at night that first alarms Ray?

The whole plot begins with Ray hearing something odd from the basement of his new neighbours' house.

Who plays Ray's wife, Carol?

Carol is the voice of reason who finally drags the men over for a proper welcome visit to the Klopeks.

Which actor plays the teenage neighbour Ricky Butler?

Ricky treats the whole cul-de-sac like a TV show and gets asked to watch over the neighbourhood at the end.

Who plays Mark Rumsfield, the neighbour with a military past?

Rumsfield is a gung-ho veteran who acts as lookout while Ray and Art search the Klopeks' backyard.

Which war did Mark Rumsfield serve in?

His military bearing is played for laughs throughout, right down to the way he handles a garbage-truck search.

Who plays Art Weingartner, Ray's nosy neighbour?

Art is the one who keeps pushing the ritual-murder theory, and it is his house the ambulance eventually crashes into.

What is the name of Ray and Carol's son?

Ray sends Carol and the boy off to her sister's so he can search the Klopeks' yard in peace.

What is the name of Walter's dog?

The dog was played by Darla, a canine performer who gets her own credit in the cast list.

What is the name of Ray's dog, which digs up a bone along the Klopeks' fence?

The bone is a human femur, which convinces Ray and Art that the Klopeks used Walter as a human sacrifice.

What bone does the dog dig up?

The femur turns the neighbours' idle suspicion into what they consider hard evidence.

What item of Walter's do the men find in his empty house, convincing them something is wrong?

The Klopeks had gathered it up by mistake along with his mail, which is why Ray later finds it in their house.

Who plays Dr. Werner Klopek?

Gibson, a Laugh-In veteran, plays the family's soft-spoken doctor who ends up trying to kill Ray in the ambulance.

Which member of the Klopek family drives an oversized garbage bag to the curb and mashes it down?

Hans is played by Courtney Gains, best remembered as Malachai in Children of the Corn.

Which cult performer plays Uncle Reuben Klopek?

Theodore was a monologist and frequent David Letterman guest whose whole persona was menacing eccentricity.

Which veteran of I Love Lucy and Here's Lucy plays Walter Seznick?

Walter's disappearance drives the second act, though he was only ever in hospital.

What is the name of the film's cul-de-sac?

It was built on the Universal back lot's Colonial Street, which had been Beaver Cleaver's neighbourhood.

What do Ray and Art discover when they break into the Klopeks' basement?

They start digging into the floor for remains, which is how Ray ends up hitting the gas line.

What does Ray hit with his pickaxe in the Klopeks' basement?

The house explodes moments later, just as Carol and their son pull back into the driveway.

Why had Walter actually been away from home?

He had asked the Klopeks to collect his mail, and they scooped up rather more than that.

What were the Klopeks' real victims, as Werner finally reveals?

They murdered the family so they could take over the house, which is why there is a skull in the basement furnace.

How does Werner try to kill Ray at the end of the film?

Hans drives the ambulance while Werner attacks; the struggle sends the vehicle into Art's house.

Whose house does the ambulance crash into?

Both Werner and Ray are thrown clear, and Ray makes a citizen's arrest.

Where does Ricky find the human skeletal remains that finally incriminate the Klopeks?

After that, the Klopeks are arrested and all charges against Ray are dropped.

Who wrote the screenplay for The 'Burbs?

Olsen based it on his own suburban childhood and pitched it as Ozzie and Harriet meet Charles Manson.

What was the script's title before it became The 'Burbs?

Dante had been developing Little Man Tate when he was offered the script; that project was later made by Jodie Foster.

How did the original script end, before Tom Hanks was cast?

Dante recalled the studio's reaction: you can't kill Tom Hanks, so the ending had to change.

Which Dante regular plays Vic, one of the garbagemen?

Miller appeared in nearly every Joe Dante film; his fellow garbageman Joe is played by Robert Picardo, another Dante staple.

Who composed the orchestral score for The 'Burbs?

Goldsmith was Dante's regular composer and had scored his previous two features.

Where was The 'Burbs filmed?

Dante compared the single-location approach to Hitchcock's Lifeboat and said it could almost be a stage play.

Which earlier Tom Hanks film had used the same Colonial Street set?

The street was in use for a sitcom revival when production began.

Which TV series was shooting on the Colonial Street set when The 'Burbs went into production?

Production designer James Spencer, a veteran of Poltergeist and Gremlins, had to redress the street in a matter of days.

How many endings did Joe Dante say he shot for the film?

He blamed the writers' strike for having to make things up as they went, and changed the ending after a preview audience disliked the original.

Which studio partner brought the script to Joe Dante's attention?

Grazer liked the concept of a regular guy taking a vacation in his own neighbourhood and thought Dante fit its comedy-horror mix.

Roughly how much did The 'Burbs gross in its number-one opening weekend?

It opened over the Presidents' Day holiday and finished its US run with about $36.6 million.

How many stars out of four did Roger Ebert give The 'Burbs?

He wrote that it tried to sit between Beetlejuice and The Twilight Zone but lacked the dementia of one and the intelligence of the other.

What CinemaScore grade did opening audiences give The 'Burbs?

The mixed reception at the time did nothing to stop it becoming a cult classic on video and cable.

Which label released the acclaimed 2014 UK Blu-ray with a new 2K scan and a making-of documentary?

The documentary was titled There Goes the Neighborhood, and Shout! Factory later ported most of the extras to its 2018 US release.

Which company released the soundtrack as an expanded double LP in 2018?

Music heard in the film but left off the album includes an Ennio Morricone cue and Enrico Caruso singing Questa o Quella.

Which streaming service premiered a TV series adaptation of The 'Burbs in 2026?

The series was announced in September 2024, with Brian Grazer and Seth MacFarlane among the producers.

Who headlined the 2026 TV series based on The 'Burbs?

The series came from Universal Content Productions with Imagine Entertainment and Fuzzy Door producing.

Which two Joe Dante films had he directed before The 'Burbs, as noted when he was hired?

Grazer thought Dante was ideal because the script mixed comedy, horror and reality.

How long is Ray's vacation at home in the film?

Hanks said Ray stays home as a more Bohemian alternative to a trip, and gets sucked into his neighbours' obsessions.

How did screenwriter Dana Olsen sum up his approach to The 'Burbs?

His script attracted producer Larry Brezner, who brought it to Imagine Films and Brian Grazer.

Over how many weeks was The 'Burbs shot on the Universal back lot in summer 1988?

A writers' strike meant Dante and the cast had to 'make it up as we were going along'.

Which Star Trek: Voyager actor plays Joe, the second garbageman, alongside Dick Miller?

Franklyn Ajaye and Rance Howard, Ron Howard's father, play the detectives.

Who plays Bonnie Rumsfield, Mark's wife, who finds Walter's dog running loose?

Bruce Dern plays her husband Mark, the neighbour with a military past.

Which producer joined Brian Grazer on the 2026 Peacock series, via Fuzzy Door Productions?

The Keke Palmer-led adaptation premiered on 8 February 2026.