Prepping the #Podcast for #October: Don't Go in the House

 *Blog post was started on September 29, 2021.

I am doing my best to enjoy these slow times at the bank. With Republicans threatening to let this country default on its debts me technically being a government contractor, it is more important than ever to enjoy every moment. 

That is definitely tricky when your mom has to be COVID-free to head to London this weekend. It is bad enough that I have not heard any news on what the bank will do about the unvaccinated who surround me for nine hours a day. My visit this past weekend had hopes of checking out the Peoria bar scene, but that kind of exposure could ruin my mom's next three weeks. I would never here the end of that.

Which is why I need help from my readers and friends. "NinetyForChill.com - The Podcast" needs guests and I need something to keep me inside. For October, the natural thing to do is to focus on horror movies and I will acknowledge, my experience with many of the slasher franchises is lacking. Almost all the franchises have at least one feature that clocks in between 74 and 99 minutes. If you want to be my expert, send an email to russthebus07@gmail.com and we can set up a time for a Zoom meeting. Each episode needs to be recorded by Sunday before the Tuesday that it is to be released. Thanks.

If you cannot be a guest, I am still in need of suggestions for horror features to watch. Which Jason and Freddy flicks are worth the time. Are there any good "Halloween" sequels beyond "2", "H2O" and "2018"? Are "Child's Play" and "Seed of Chucky" all I need to know where the cool doll-based gore is because last night, I went for a "Video Nasty". Unfortunately, it sure felt like the UK cut of "Don't Go in the House".

Don't Go in the House (1979)

Donny has an obsession with fire. This stems from his father abandoning the family when he was five. Deeming that man as evil, thus anyone spawned from him must be the same, Donny's mother was determined to burn the evil out of her son, literally. The fear instilled into Donny has lead to him never having the nerve to leave her, so he has essentially been her live-in nurse his entire life. His only relief is being mesmerized by the flames at the incinerator he works at.

One night, he returns from work to find that his mother has died. When he is about to call the authorities, voices manifest telling him to celebrate the new found freedom instead. Unfortunately for Donny, these are not the only voices that he hears. His mother is still demanding that he be an obedient and good child. The new found friends suggest that the answer is purifying his mother's corpse with flames.

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Of course, when your only relationship with any women is your mom, you may rationalize that all women are the same as her. With a flamethrower and his newly installed steel-walled room, he will bring purity to this world, one woman at a time.

"Don't Go in the House" lays some great groundwork for eventually banned by Great Britain films like "Maniac" when it comes to the story. Unfortunately, it is all suggestions of imagery instead of actually delivering the brutality. Just because it had been associated with the video nasties, I was kind of disappointed that there is only one scene of genuine terror and no spectacular gore.

The overbearing mother trope obviously dates back to "Psycho", but late 70s' early 80s' horror elevated the psychopathic notions. I think there are well written scenes in this feature that explore how a nutcase would handle living around corpses with a need for interactions. Much of the time, this film comes across as a one-man show. Dan Grimaldi does not quite have the charisma or chops to carry those scenes. Without people to interact with, his performance appears lost.

The lack of an outstanding performance without a large amount of gore results in a lot of real-time research temptations. There are great odes to Italian horror movies with some sequences of the charred corpses coming to life, but it just reminds you that this is not a messed up giallo film. I liked the ending proving that Proud Boys are not hard to make, but it is not enough a reward for the time that has passed.

"Don't Go in the House" has a strong enough script for an interesting movie, but the lack of actual horror holds this feature back. It is not a waste of time because it lays out a nice prototype for what the genre was to become, but this lacks the bells and whistles to be regarded as ready to be released to the public. If you want to see the history that leads up to over the top mayhem, you may get something from this feature. Otherwise, just skip to "Maniac's" uber misogyny.