Don't Go in the House

Don't Go in the House
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joseph Ellison
Screenplay by	Ellen Hammill Joe Masefield Joseph Ellison
Story by	Joe Masefield
Produced by	Ellen Hammill
Starring	Dan Grimaldi
Cinematography	Oliver Wood
Edited by	Jane Kurson
Music by	Richard Einhorn
Production company	Turbine Films Inc.
Distributed by	Film Ventures International
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$250,000
Box office	Unknown

Don't Go in the House (alternately titled Dont Go into the House!) is a psychological horror film written and directed by Joseph Ellison and co-written by Ellen Hammill and Joe Masefield. Released on March 28, 1980

Plot

Donald Kohler is obsessed with fire. A flashback shows the origin of his obsession: When he was young, he used to suffer severe abuse from his mother, who would hold his bare arms over a gas stove to "burn the evil out of him". After his mother dies, he sets out to avenge himself on any woman who bears a resemblance to her.

After having gone to a surplus store and he buys a suit that looks like a beekeepers outfit, Donny then goes to a flower shop where he befriends a florist named Kathy Jordan. Donny makes up an excuse to Kathy to buy flowers for his dead mother. Kathy selects from the shop's refrigerator some yellow and white flowers wrapped in green paper. Kathy rings up the flowers for Donny and then shows him to the door so she can close up shop. After Kathy has locked up the flower shop for the night, she races to catch her bus, to which she misses. After being harassed by some men, Donny offers Kathy a ride home. Donny then says he has to make a quick stop to check on his mother and once he and Kathy arrive at the house, Donny convinces Kathy to come inside and meet his mother. After some time, and wanting to use the phone to call a cab, Kathy is then knocked unconscious and then later wakes up in the steel room that Donny built. Stripped naked and chained to the ceiling, Kathy then sees Donny in the fire proof suit he bought before he went to Kathy's flower shop. Donny pours gasoline all over Kathy and then starts up his flame thrower, thus setting Kathy a flame and burning her alive. Kathy is still heard screaming in pain as her body is burned completely. Donny then goes to put a blanket over the charred body of Kathy as Kathy's now charred body is seen still hanging from the metal chains from the ceiling. Over the next few days, Donny murders two other women by immolating them. Donny also burns his mother's corpse and dresses it up in her bedroom, along with the other three dead women.

He begins to feel remorse for his actions. Donny goes to a church, where he tells Father Gerritty about the abuse his mother inflicted upon him and about his urges to kill. Father Gerritty persuades Donny to try to move on with his life and leave the past to rest.

In an attempt to stop killing, Donny accepts his friend Bobby’s invitation to go on a double date. Donny shows up but is shy and awkward. When the woman tries to take Donny to the dance floor, she inadvertently holds his arms over the table's lighted candle, which reminds him of his childhood abuse. Donny angrily picks up the candle holder and smashes it onto her head, setting her hair on fire.

After fleeing from the disco, Donny runs into two drunken girls on the street and takes them to his house. Bobby tries to find Donny and meets Father Gerritty on his way to Donny's house. When no one answers the front door, they break it down and rescue the two women. Donny sets Father Gerritty ablaze with his flamethrower, but Bobby manages to put out the flames and rescue him.

Donny takes refuge inside his mother's bedroom. The voices express their disappointment in him, and the burned corpses come to life and attack him. He frantically fights them but dies; they drag him to the floor as the house burns down around him.

The final scene portrays a young boy named Michael watching the news report about Donny's death. His mother scolds and beats him for not turning off the TV as she asks him to. When she leaves the room, Michael hears the same voices as Donny did, and they tell him that they've come to 'help' him.

Cast

• Dan Grimaldi as Donald 'Donny' Kohler
• Colin Mclnness as Young Donald Kohler
• Charlie Bonet as Ben
• Bill Ricci as Vito
• Robert Osth as Bobby Tuttle
• Johanna Brushay as Kathy Jordan
• Ruth Dardick as Mrs. Kohler
• Ralph D. Bowman as Father Gerritty
• Joey Peschl as Bobby Tuttle's son
• Christian Isidore as Michael
• Eileen Dunn as Michael's mother

Music

The movie score was composed by Richard Einhorn. The score features electronics mixed with orchestral and dissonant sounds. The soundtrack was released by Waxwork Records in 2019 as a double LP, making it the first ever soundtrack release for the film.

Controversy

Despite some respectable critical notices, Don't Go in the House attracted controversy almost immediately because of its graphic depiction of the death of Kathy Jordan, Donny Kohler's first victim, and the central theme of childhood abuse. The film was cut by almost three minutes when it was released in Britain in the winter of 1980, but an uncut version was released on video by the Arcade label in 1982 – knowingly or not, they advertised the release as "a true 'nasty' from Arcade", and it quickly wound up on the DPP's list of banned titles, or video nasties. The pre-cut British cinema version was released on video by the Apex label in April 1987, though the film was finally passed uncut in 2011.

Release

Home media

Don't Go into the House was released for the first time on DVD by DVD Ltd on December 2, 1998. It was later released by Shriek Show on November 29, 2005. Shriek Show would later re-release the film on February 5, 2008, as a part of its three-disk "Grindhouse Psychos!" film pack. American boutique home video label Scorpion Releasing then released the film on Blu-ray, uncut for the very first time in 2015.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Don’t Go in the House holds a 40% approval rating based on 5 critic reviews, with an average rating of 3.75/10.

DVD Talk gave the film a three and a half out of five, writing that, Don't Go in the House "is one of those rare films that works really well despite the fact that rips off better known movies" and "it's a bitter, ugly, and nasty little horror movie that doesn't pull any punches and is just as seedy today as it was when it was made. It's effective in that it gets under your skin despite its low budget origins and obvious flaws". Hysteria Lives! gave the film a similar rating, writing, "Grim is the only word for Joseph Ellison's psychological terror movie" and "It's easy to forget just how nihilistic much of American genre cinema was as the 70s turned into the 80s (especially with the avalanche of cheese that was just round the corner), but Don't Go in the House is a chilly reminder of times when practically anything went". In a retrospective, Dave J. Wilson from Dread Central felt the film was underappreciated, and called it "a dark, chilling, grim and gruesome depiction of the tragic repercussions of child abuse".