Suburbs: The endless sprawl of identikit mass produced housing that surrounds most towns and cities in the western world. Lacking the rural tranquility of the countryside and the spirit, history and community of the inner cities they are designe to enduce a life numbing stupor into it’s inhabitents to keep the ‘prolls’ under control. Also known as concrete deserts, they are the loneliest, most soul destroying and down right dull places on the face of the planet.

Since World War II, North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness. Hollywood has been quick to capitalize on the suburban lifestyle and the angst and fears of its inhabitants. Here is burbia.com’s list of the Top 10 Movies with ‘Neighbors from Hell’ part 1 and 2.

The 10 Best, part 1

• Rosemary’s Baby (1968), neighbors = Devil worshippers
• Arlington Road (1999), neighbors, the Langs are right wing nut-job domestic terrorists.
• The Stepford Wives (2004), all the neighbors are decidedly not your friends unless your desire is to be turned into a robotic (lobotomized) “yes, honey” wife-oid.
• Disturbia (2007), neighbor = monster serial killer?
• Cujo (1983), dog is out of his mind nuts, rabid and hell-bent on maiming and killing.
• Neighbors (1981), Freakazoid gun-toting, carousing, constantly interfering next door neighbor
• Barton Fink (1991), Next door neighbor is really not such a good friend; in fact he’s a bad friend, actually evil, and, as Satan as his witness, is going to make sure things don’t end well.
• Rear Window (1954), Unhappy neighbor realizes he’s been watched and naturally wants to “take care” of the snoopy, suspicious voyeur.
• A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984), Another neighbor you’d just assume live – and sleep – without.
• Pacific Heights (1990), Menacing neighbor and tenant is determined to destroy his “friends’” marriage, break them financially and otherwise do whatever is necessary to steal everything from them.

The 10 Best, part 2

• American Beauty (1999), Wired-too-tight Marine officer with issues: repressed rage, overwhelming confusion at the social changes around him, and some serious (and, for him, intolerable) and explosive sexual dysfunction and identity problems.
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Predatory aliens who ooze out of pods and who want to do the same to you?
• Funny Farm (1988), Country folk aren’t as Hallmark advertised; they’re as small-minded, mean-spirited, unfriendly as your local traffic cop trying to fill his monthly ticket quota.
• Psycho (1960), Norman Bates lives in a house just behind the Bates Motel – definitely a bad neighbor
• The Burbs (1989), Cannibals, folks who come out only at night, neighborhood dogs crapping freely on lawns, a naked gardener, and a gun –obsessed freakazoid.
• Dawn of the Dead (1978), Zombies, however cool and trendy today, normally don’t make great neighbors.
• Halloween (1978), Michael Meyers, incurable murderer, escapes from a mental institution and returns to his home town.
• Duplex (2003), Little old lady who, it turns out, is the ultimate unrelenting neighbor from hell.
• The People Under The Stairs (1991), Horrible next door neighbors are one thing. But evil freak neighbors who abduct kids, maim them, and stash them under the stairs are totally unacceptable.
• Shaun Of The Dead (2004), More zombies invade the neighborhood and, as usual, they’re not good neighbors.
• Beetlejuice (1988), The folks living upstairs are ghosts and they’d really like you to leave.

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