Don't Go in the House (1980)

I remember seeing this on a VHS in the late 80s. Revisited it recently on a DVD. In the movie, a deranged serial killer Donny was burned as a kid by his dominating mother which made him insane. He keeps hearing his dead mothers dominating voices as the burnt body of his mother is still kept in the house a la Psycho style. He hears voices, sees bad dreams, acts weird at workplace. He is a total nut job. He picks up females n somehow lures them in his house n burns them alive to a crisp with a flame thrower in a steel-clad room in his basement. The single most impressive thing about the film, and what will likely either offend most is the first victim of Donny's rampage. The house itself is a brilliant piece of location scouting, and succeeds in first capturing, then magnifying, the twisted mental landscape of  our psycho protagonist. But the ending was a lil saving grace to an otherwise boring film. Coming to the bad points, the movie is very slow. Nothing happens in the first 50 mins or so n most of the killings r offscreen. There is zero tension n suspense. One can call it a poor mans version of Psycho n Deranged.

Donny Kohler (Dan Grimaldi) is a disturbed young man plagued by memories of his mother (Ruth Dardick). It seems that Mrs. Kohler was convinced that the only way to rid her son of sin was to burn it out of him, by holding his arms over an open flame on the stove. The old lady kicks the bucket, and this sends Donny completely over the edge. He begins to stalk various unfortunate young women, and slaughter them inside the family home. Here Donny has built a special room where victims are stripped naked, doused with gasoline, and set ablaze by the flamethrower that Donny just happens to have."Don't Go in the House" is about on a par with William Lustigs' "Maniac", in its portrayal of an unbalanced person with vivid memories of child abuse, and who has turned to murder as an adult. It's great trash, but is also definitely disturbing. Donny is not 100% unsympathetic, as he tries to repress his urges; he accepts the overtures of friendship from co-worker Bobby Tuttle (Robert Osth) and turns to his priest (Ralph D. Bowman) for help. The entire portion of the movie wherein Donny selects his first victim (Johanna Brushay) and proceeds to immolate her is pretty damn creepy. There is good atmosphere, a notable primary location (with strong echoes of "Psycho"), and an appreciable low budget, independent, gritty feel to everything. Richard Einhorns' music is excellent; two people on the crew who went on to bigger things are editor Jane Kurson and cinematographer Oliver Wood. The makeup effects by Tom Brumberger (who also has a small role) are adequate. And the nightmare sequence halfway through is a good one.The acting is passable from most of the cast. Grimaldi, the only cast member who had a pretty good career after this (including a part on 'The Sopranos' years later), is the main reason to watch. He truly gives it his all.In conclusion, it must be said that no review of this movie would be complete without mentioning that awesome disco soundtrack. You'll have that "Boogie Lightning" song in your head long after the movie is over.Eight out of 10.

A pyromaniac snaps after the death of his abusively religious mother and begins kidnapping women to burn up and add to his macabre collection. He lives in a huge mansion and is able to hide his secret, however he wants to have friends and goes out to a disco with a co-worker, only to reveal his psychopathic urges. This movie was made during the Disco craze, so the soundtrack featured a ton of great retro disco songs, the two most prominent being 'Shocked by Boogie Lightning' and 'Late Night Surrender'. The acting was all relatively good, and the plot is original; rather than your typical ax-wielding slasher, Donald the pyromaniac puts on a huge Safe-Suit and kills with a flamethrower. It's a pretty good movie, great to watch on a Friday night or at a party.

This movie is about as good as it can be. The acting is all right, I myself finding the performance of Dan Grimaldi quite well done. There are even some generally frightening moments I enjoyed. The score by Richard Einhorn is also pretty interesting, quite menacing when it gathers full strength. Problem is the film's story borrows somewhat from Hitchcock's "Psycho" that preceded this film by well over two decades. Technically speaking, the lead characters from these two films are quite the same in motive and disposition; difference (the most important thing to keep in mind) is that Anthony Perkins was allowed subtly and mystery to his performance as Norman Bates. This film is so out right with its villain there's not much mystery, just violence.However, I still find this movie a hoot to watch, though by no means a horror classic.