Joseph Ellison's film Don't Go in the House was made in 1980 when the huge slasher and horror boom was at its greatest in America and many nasty and mean spirited slashers and splatter flicks were made, each trying to be more repellent and violent than the previous. Don't Go in the House has one outrageously sick murder scene which makes the film easily to the hall of (sh/f)ame of the all time B level horror films.
The story is about a sick man Donny (Dan Grimaldi), who was tormented by his even more sick mother when he was a child. The mother burned his arms everytime he had been "naughty" and he even lives with his mother being at his thirties or near that! Soon his mother dies (or is killed, never explained clearly considered how twisted the mind of Donny is) and he starts to hate females very much, using his flamethrower and self made torture chamber with his help. He keeps (of course) his mother rotting with the other corpses in his house and searches for new victims everyday, until his colleague starts to smell something, quite literally!
I definitely agree with Chas. Balun that this film is too sick and perverse to win too many fans. The guy likes to burn chicks. Can anyone name even more sadistic and painfull way to kill someone than burning? Especially when chained so that the victim can't even run and try to extinguish the fire. The opening murder has a female chained and covered with gasoline and then burned with the flame thrower while Donny watches next to her and listens to her screams probably enjoying what he witnesses. That scene is among the nastiest and most over-the-top sadistic acts of terror I've seen in any slasher and video nasty of the 80's, and it is no wonder this film is included in the British list of Video Nasties, a group of films which were banned when the British censorship law began in the early eighties. Don't Go in the House was released on video also after that, but cut by many minutes, as could be expected, and due to this film's scenes of females being killed and tortured, this wouldn't pass uncut even today, I think.
This film is co-written and co-produced by female, and it is no use in saying how this film hates females and is misogynistic overall. This film hates males as much as after all, the murderer doesn't get away and gets to taste his own medicine, the kind of ending which would NOT be in a film if it was misogynistic. Also, this film hasn't got any powerful themes and it isn't even interested in saying something about the society or human beings; it is just exploitation to make some bucks at the time these were so popular among drive ins and other places showing low budget horror films.
Don't Go in the House is technically pretty bad and doesn't have too interesting atmosphere or any "real" horror elements, but that can be expected from these films. The soundtrack tries to create some tension, but doesn't succeed pretty well. The special effects are pretty few but at least the opening killing is almost as realistic as possible, and the crew didn't even use prosthetics as they would make people look unnaturally fat, so they used just tricks and other techniques to make the scenes look more realistic. The nightmare scenes and visions the killer has are effective just occasionally, and after all there's nothing too talented and cinematically noteworthy in this film. Still this can be recommended for all the fans of low budget horror of the eighties and those interested in the Video Nasties. I give Don't Go in the House 3/10 and won't forget it too easily either!
The story is about a sick man Donny (Dan Grimaldi), who was tormented by his even more sick mother when he was a child. The mother burned his arms everytime he had been "naughty" and he even lives with his mother being at his thirties or near that! Soon his mother dies (or is killed, never explained clearly considered how twisted the mind of Donny is) and he starts to hate females very much, using his flamethrower and self made torture chamber with his help. He keeps (of course) his mother rotting with the other corpses in his house and searches for new victims everyday, until his colleague starts to smell something, quite literally!
I definitely agree with Chas. Balun that this film is too sick and perverse to win too many fans. The guy likes to burn chicks. Can anyone name even more sadistic and painfull way to kill someone than burning? Especially when chained so that the victim can't even run and try to extinguish the fire. The opening murder has a female chained and covered with gasoline and then burned with the flame thrower while Donny watches next to her and listens to her screams probably enjoying what he witnesses. That scene is among the nastiest and most over-the-top sadistic acts of terror I've seen in any slasher and video nasty of the 80's, and it is no wonder this film is included in the British list of Video Nasties, a group of films which were banned when the British censorship law began in the early eighties. Don't Go in the House was released on video also after that, but cut by many minutes, as could be expected, and due to this film's scenes of females being killed and tortured, this wouldn't pass uncut even today, I think.
This film is co-written and co-produced by female, and it is no use in saying how this film hates females and is misogynistic overall. This film hates males as much as after all, the murderer doesn't get away and gets to taste his own medicine, the kind of ending which would NOT be in a film if it was misogynistic. Also, this film hasn't got any powerful themes and it isn't even interested in saying something about the society or human beings; it is just exploitation to make some bucks at the time these were so popular among drive ins and other places showing low budget horror films.
Don't Go in the House is technically pretty bad and doesn't have too interesting atmosphere or any "real" horror elements, but that can be expected from these films. The soundtrack tries to create some tension, but doesn't succeed pretty well. The special effects are pretty few but at least the opening killing is almost as realistic as possible, and the crew didn't even use prosthetics as they would make people look unnaturally fat, so they used just tricks and other techniques to make the scenes look more realistic. The nightmare scenes and visions the killer has are effective just occasionally, and after all there's nothing too talented and cinematically noteworthy in this film. Still this can be recommended for all the fans of low budget horror of the eighties and those interested in the Video Nasties. I give Don't Go in the House 3/10 and won't forget it too easily either!