Don't Go In The House

Don't Go In The House
Rated R / 1980

Some call it trash, other's call it a masterpiece. One thing is for sure though, it's a very underrated film. I had the pleasure of viewing it a few months back, late night on cable, and surprisingly it is a very decent film. It was obviously dished out due to the success of another slasher flick from that same year, the magnificent "Maniac" (which I consider one of the 5 greatest slasher films of all time), and even the tagline is similar (Maniac's was "I warned you not to go out tonight", DGITH's was "You have been warned"). But similarities aside, this is definately a gem... It's about this guy who was abused by his mother as a child, she used to burn his hands over a stove for "being bad", so as a lashing out, he sets women on fire. There was a cool scene I remember where he's in a disco, he has a flashback, so he lights some chicks head on fire. A classic scene, in the same vein of the infamous shotgun-to-the-head scene from Maniac (I just wish I knew which film was made first!). And there is an awesome scene at the end where a priest meets the same fiery fate! It's very reminiscent of Psycho, and contains a really cool nightmare sequence in which the killer's female victims return from the dead to haunt him. I thought that was a very chilling scene, it somehow managed to get under my skin... Not overly gory, I don't remember any terribly bloody scenes (I only started watching it at the scene with the nude chick being torched) but it definately deserves your attention, and it is unfortunate that this film has been lost in the annals of obscurity. All in all, I recommend this one! Definately an underrated, low budget horror classic...