Don't Go in
the House (1980)
Easily one of my favorite disco era "Don't..." movies, Don't Go in the House
distinguishes itself as having what I consider to be, arguably, the
very best burning scene in a mainstream movie. (Head of the Family
is also extremely good, but stops short of actually burning the
victim.) The movie itself is a confused mess, borrowing liberally from Psycho but without any
of Hitchcock's finesse. I will therefore dismiss the plot in one short
sentence and spend all my time on the GIMP parts.
There's this guy whose mother punished him by burning him when he was a
little boy and now that he is grown, he tricks women into going into
his house and burning them, and then dressing them up and setting them
in a domestic tableau. Yawn.
The first and best victim is pretty Kathy Jordan (played by Johanna
Brushay, who doesn't seem to have made any other movies, according to
IMDB). She works in a shop and by means of standard horror movie plot
devices, ends up being given a ride home by our fire-obsessed
psychopath, Donny Kohler. But of course he needs to stop by his house
and check up on his mother and would she mind since it is on the way. I
will say this for Kathy, she seems distrustful of Donny from the very
start. But not distrustful enough. He whacks her on the head and about
27 minutes into the movie she wakes up naked and chained in a
metal-covered room.
She struggles and makes frightened noises as we cut away to Donny and
then back again.
Kathy looks up at the door in terror as Donny strides in dressed in a
fireproof suit. Her fearful eyes follow him as he walks around the room.
He picks up a large gas can and douses Kathy's helpless naked body
with, presumably, gasoline. Kathy cries and whimpers.
Donny picks up a flamethrower. Kathy screams and struggles. He aims it
at her. She screams and struggles even more.
Donny sets Kathy on fire, and we watch for a good 20 seconds as the
flames consume Kathy's body. In a really effective bit, the camera
focuses on Kathy's burning hands twitching helplessly in the manacles.
The flames die down and we see a blackened, burned-to-a-crisp
Kathy. You would think that would be a step too far, but it is
strangely appropriate.
And that's basically the GIMP climax of this movie.
There is another gal who has car trouble and is obviously despairing
when helpful Donny pulls up and offers her a ride, as long as they can
stop by and check up on his mother on the way. Next thing we see is a
burned body. No nudity, no struggling--nothing. What a disappointment.
Then Donny talks these two chicks into going home with him and once
again we see nothing except a very brief scene as they are rescued. One
is tied AOH and the other looks to be bound hands behind back sitting
in the corner.
SUMMARY: Awesome burning scene
of a very attractive, naked girl chained wrists and ankles in a
metal-covered room. Two other missed opportunities.
As a horror flick, this is definitely typical B-movie fare. As a GIMP
movie, it does not deliver on two occasions, but redeems itself with an
incredible nude bondage burning scene. I am not a burning at the stake
fan, and this is technically not a burning at the stake scene, but I
like the way it was done. The movie kind of sucks, but I give the
burning scene a very strong A. As I said, I think it
is one of the best ones I have ever seen.
This movie is available on DVD from Amazon as a standalone flick, or as one of three grindhouse flicks in a collection
for just a few bucks more.
|
