Horror Extreme Movie Catalog

Quentin Tarantino is said to be a fan of this movie, but - apart from one infamous scene - I can't understand why. Don't Go in the House is pretty much your typical, 1970s-era, cheap drive-in horror feature that promises little and doesn't over-deliver on those promises. (Is it just me, or are all 70s horror films plagued with dark, dirty prints? Can't someone do something to clean these things up a little bit?) I did learn one thing from the film, though. Apparently, back in 1979, you could go into a gun/camping shop and buy a flamethrower and flame-resistant suit - with no background check or anything.

This is the story of a lad named Donny (Dan Grimaldi). Like most young men and women, Donny goes a little crazy the first time he gets out from under his mother's thumb: jumping on furniture, turning up the stereo, and bringing girls back to his place for some fun. Unfortunately, Donny is about thirty years old and a total nutjob, leaves his dead mother sitting in the chair she died in upstairs, and he is not the least bit interested in the kind of games men and women normally play. We learn early on that he has a sick fascination with flame because he just stands there and watches as one of his co-workers at the incinerator stupidly catches himself on fire. Thanks to a childhood flashback, we soon learn the source of this fascination - and, frankly, it makes it pretty hard to disagree with the voices in Donny's head that tell him his dead mother was evil. The next thing you know, old Donny manages to entrap a fairly attractive woman into getting into his truck and stopping by to meet his mother. Bad mistake. Remember the flamethrower and heat suit I mentioned earlier? Yep, you guessed it. Let us pause here and linger on this film's singular moment and only real claim to fame. It's a fantastic scene that deserves a place in the cinematic annals of horror and gore; surprisingly graphic, especially for its time, it is Donny's demeanor and the silence of the act that makes it so effective and memorable. If Don't Go in the House is worth watching at all, it is for this one scene.

The rest of the film is pretty predictable and ends just as you knew it would all along. Of course, no one will be allowed to leave the theatre during the thrilling disco suit-buying scene and no one could possibly want to enter the theatre during the equally memorable disco dancing scene. Throw a little unnecessary epilogue on the end in an effort to make a statement (or not), and you're done. It should be obvious that only dedicated horror fans will wring the first drop of enjoyment out of the experience.

The 1970's was an optimum year for horror films in almost every country in the world. From a social stand-point you could blame A LOT of things on why there were so many violent and shocking films, but personally I'd have to say that directors back then just knew how to bring chills up your spine. Such is actually the case in Don't Go in the House, a bizarre little low budget psychological horror/character study film about a quiet, little guy who was tortured as a kid by his mother using fire and the night his mother dies he just... snaps.

One thing I find interesting about Don't Go in the House is that it's NOT a Slasher film; in fact there's little Slasher film about it. There isn't even any blood! Well okay, one nose bleed, but that's literally it. The movie isn't trying to scare you with bodily fluids, it goes a completely different angle and DAMN does it work... The killer isn't some goofy super man in a mask or wearing flamboyant colors, he's a normal, ordinary guy. If anything makes him stand out from the crowd it's the simple fact that he tends to be a pretty snappy dresser (nice disco duds). His methods of murder are closer to realism, too. He doesn't go on random kill-sprees in populated areas that just HAPPEN to be isolated, he doesn't hunt, he lures. He lures women into his house, knocks them out and then... guhhh, ick... he INCINERATES them... That may not sound creepy, but the way the bodies are made in the film they look pretty realistic.

Of course, the small budget on this title shows immensely. There aren't too many notable performances save for maybe the main character, the main character's friend and one cute drunk girl ("It's a bar, dummy!"). Oh, and the main character's boss, but he was only in three scenes. The rest of the acting is mediocre at best and some of the dialogue can be grating at times... did they really have to compare idiocy to homosexuality?

One particular issue with the movie is the film is down right misogynistic. There are few females who aren't antagonized in the film either they be shoppers or mothers... in fact the only really nice ones were the killer's victims, attempted or murdered! Also, the ending didn't have much of an impact, it felt like one of those 'yeah, right' moments in attempt to insert last minute social commentary.

Despite all this though, the movie has got a very creepy atmosphere. The soundtrack actually helps a lot in establishing the dormant fear and some of the notes even give the implementation of heat. One thing I admire about the film is that the movie seems to remember that the main character is a homicidal killer; despite his evident point of childhood trauma, we're not fed any further information beyond that point and it is all left to the imagination. If anything, I felt the tie in to his childhood punishment being religious to be a bit of a cop-out, but I know for a fact it could've been a lot more hammy than that (at least no stupid mystical cult is fueling it... I hate it when serial killer based media does that). Even better is that you can hardly hear what the voices in his head are saying and they rarely make sense... it's almost like you're LITERALLY hearing what he hears.

So, if you have the room for it, get it because Don't Go in the House is one of those strange little gems of a horror film that has a lot going for it in atmosphere and originality.