Sometimes the only things scarier than a home's devaluation are the next-door neighbors. Especially in movies where good and bad dreams come true.
Take the new film "Revolutionary Road," with stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio. Its scathing indictment of picket-fence living is one in a long line of nightmare neighborhoods depicted in movies over the years.
Here's a list of some, ranked from mere irritations to flat-out terror.
"Neighbors" -- The couple next door to Earl Keese (John Belushi) are a freeloading boor (Dan Aykroyd) and his nymphomaniac wife (Cathy Moriarty). Oh well, you take the good with the bad.
"In the Bedroom" -- Raising a teen-age boy is tough enough. Sic the sexy neighbor (Marisa Tomei) on him, with her psycho ex-husband close behind, and there will be blood.
"American Beauty" -- Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) is a pothead in severely arrested development, his wife (Annette Bening) is having an affair, their daughter hangs around with the creepy son of an ex-Marine (Chris Cooper) next door who's a closeted gay with anger issues. Can't wait for the block party.
"The 'Burbs" -- Nothing ruins a neighborhood faster than a cannibal cult moving in down the street. Unless it's the paranoid residents (Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern) believing that rumor is true.
"Lakeview Terrace" -- "Look, hon, our new home is next door to a policeman, so we'll be safe. Uh, oh, he looks a lot like Samuel L. Jackson when he's mad."
"Little Children" -- Kate Winslet's in this happy 'hood, too; it's "Revolutionary Road" with more happening, including a pedophile (Jackie Earle Haley) trying to go straight, a gung-ho former cop harassing him and hot laundry-room sex. Even a playground swing set gets stained by the luridness.
"Disturbia" -- Being under house arrest is a bummer for Shia LaBeouf, especially with a serial killer living next door. Sure, the movie rips off "Rear Window," but moving the voyeuristic, amateur detective to the suburbs is a smart update.
"Revolutionary Road" -- Young marrieds (Winslet, DiCaprio) are smug about their life together when not loudly arguing about it. Good fences make good neighbors, but this couple calls for a tall brick wall, in a tale brought to you by director Sam Mendes, who also made "American Beauty."
"Poltergeist" -- I'll take my chances with killers and killjoys next door. But tell me that my subdivision is built on a cursed burial ground and I'm out of there. Lousy TV reception, too.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service www.scrippsnews.com)
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