14 December 2024
Don't Go in the House (1980)
83 min.
Directed by Joseph Ellison.
With Dan Grimaldi, Robert Osth, Ruth Dardick, Johanna Brushay, O'Mara Leary, Gail Turner.
Gruesome grittiness.

As a young lad, little Donny is abused by his mother who attempts to exorcise sin from the boy via punishment by burning.

Now a grown (and quite deranged) man, reclusive Donny (Grimaldi) works by day at the local incinerator.

But by night, he acts out his twisted and bent nightmares...luring unsuspecting women home with him, tying them up and burning them alive.

His charred victims then serve as silent audience for Donny's future shows of wild insanity.

Low budget horror has limited scope (and really, little value as a 'demented' character study), but does manage a grim effectiveness thanks to Grimaldi's generally subdued performance and the overall creepiness of the Kohler house.

Best scene: the harrowing disco/hair fire sequence. Maybe "best" isn't the right word here..

The open-to-interpretation ending is a nice touch...and just rewards for our hot fingered loonster.

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