1980 really was the year of the copycats. He Knows You’re Alone, Prom Night - even Friday the 13th - were all trying to recapture the success of Halloween. Meanwhile, one of the most notorious films in the women-in-jeopardy cycle Don’t Go in the House used Hitchcock’s 1960 shocker Psycho as its template. Originally called The Burning, before that Friday the 13th rip-off got in first, this video nasty adopted the Don’t tag to cash in on the success of the sleazy Don’t Answer the Phone!, also released the same year.
Dan Grimaldi (who would go on to star in TV’s The Sopranos) plays Donny, a worker at an incinerator plant who, as a child, had his arms burnt by his sadistic mother when ever he misbehaved. It's only when she dies that Donny feels free from her control. So, in an act of revenge, he captures girls, incinerates them in a fireproof room, then vents on their corpses the hatred he still feels for his mother.
If you put aside the blatant thefts from Hitchcock’s Psycho (everything from the mother’s voice to the house) and the lame psychology, Don't Go in the House is a flaming riot - like Pyscho set to a disco beat. This is thanks to the scenes (in Donny's mind) in which the charred corpses start walking the corridors of the house – in old lady clothes not even my local charity shop would accept – and when Donny tries to impress the ladies dressed in the latest disco dancing suit, only to set fire to his date's hair. And, as for the Mother, well her corpse looks like it was modeled on the one used in the 1966 Roddy McDowall sci-fi horror It!
Now, does anyone know where I can get my hands on the soundtrack?
Released on DVD on 26 March by ArrowDrome
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVk1a-bSwqs&fs=1
