The movie for today is one that Quentin Tarantino loves. I haven't found him saying it but it is reported that he considers Don't Go In The House (1980) a classic. With a title like that it is hard to see it as something one should go rush out and rent just because one famous director thinks it is a classic movie. Then again, we all have movies that we love despite the fact that everyone else hates it. I'm a little more careful with which movies I attach the term classic onto though. Does this mean I disagree with Tarantino? That I do but not as much as you might think.Don't Go In The House is about one man, Donny Kohler (Dan Grimaldi). The story starts with Donny at work. He is a repair man from the looks of it. A co-worker catches on fire after a can explodes and all Donny does is stand there and watch while other co-workers take longer to get there. One co-worker really rags him for this but it seems that Donny is the guy most of the co-workers pick on. He keeps pretty well to himself, lives with his mom and doesn't seem to have any friends. Bobby (Robert Osth) is trying to be a friend to him and tries to look out for him at work. When Donny goes home, he discovers that his mom has passed away in her chair. At first he panics, starts to call someone on the phone and hangs up. Then he hears a voice in his head that is basicly telling him that he is free. His response to this voice is, "You mean I can play my music loud?" He goes and does just that and jumps around on a chair and smokes.
Soon after this he can hear his mom calling to him. Is he just crazy or what? He calls off from work and ends up at some flower shop and even though the place is closed he talks his way in. Donny delays the woman just enough to where she misses her bus ride. He offers her a lift and she takes him up on it instead of sticking around for the next bus since there are three guys near by making some rude comments and gesters towards her. Donny tells he has to stop at his house but its on the way to where she goes so it will only take a minute. Then after much talking, he gets her into the house. To me he was trying way to hard and that should have sent the alarm bell ringing for the woman. Anyways he hits her and knocks her out. She wakes up naked and chained in a room that Donny had put metal plates all over the room. He then comes in wearing like a fire proof suit and poors gas over her and sets her on fire with a flame thrower. Nice guy huh?
The effects are rather limited. We see the ever blacking body of his mother once in a while and the chared bodies of the women he burned. This was well done. There is a scene where they appear to be walking that looks a little funny since it is easy to tell it isn't people in make up doing the walking. The guy at the start of the film is obviously on fire and can be since he is in a fire suit but when he sets the woman I talked about on fire, it is easy to see that she wasn't on fire at all. They used movie magic to make it look like she was on fire and it didn't look good at all.
I wasn't to taken by the acting. I can't say that it was bad, I just didn't really work for me. I can't explain why really, it just didn't. The characters themselves, what few could be found, are interesting though. It seems people thought Donny was a bit off and crazy before we meet him but watching him slip further into madness is what made the movie interesting to watch. He starts to see his dead mother up and around. He can hear the voice I talked about along with his mother at times and also the voices of the women he kills. He talks to the now dead women as if they are still alive. Puts them back in the clothes they showed up with and keeps them in one of the rooms in his house. He starts to have dreams about them taking revenge on him so some part of him is feeling guilty for what he has done.
I've said before that sometimes only showing what happened after is more effective than actually showing everything that happened to a person in a horror movie. This is one time I wished they had shown a little more. After the first woman is shown being burned alive, the others are simply shown being taken in the room and then are shown again as a chared corpse. I understand why they didn't show them being burned alive, it would have been repetitive for one and since the fire effect didn't look good it is probably best they only did it the one time. Still, it would have been nice if they had maybe shown him turning on the flame thrower each time, something to push the horror of the moment just a little more.
Don't Go In The House is, in a way, about child abuse. We learn through flash backs that Donny was abused by his mother and we see the cycle again at the end of the movie. Some people thought it was also a story of Donny striking out at his feelings of homosexuality. I didn't really see that between Donny and Bobby but at one point there was a conversation that kind of goes like this:
Donny: "I thought we could just have a quiet evening together."
Bobby: "Look, I didn't go to the trouble of making my wife think I was working this weekend just to go to a movie and hold your hand."
You see, Bobby was trying to get Donny to double date with him. He had two women he was going dancing with and wanted Donny to date the other woman. Still, when things are being said like that it is hard not to wonder if there might be a bit of a read between the lines type thing going on. I didn't enjoy this movie a lot but it was an interesting character study. Donny seeing his dead mother and him hearing voices provided some creepy scenes. It wasn't enough for me to call Don't Go In The House a classic but I have to admit I liked it, just enough.
3 out of 5 Wondering why no one noticed the burnt flesh smell
2 comments:
Miss Heather you continue to amaze me sweet lady. As usual, you have given your honest appraisal of Don't Go In The House, making us aware of its highlights, and warning us about its warts. The fact you started out by noting that QT loves this one got my attention as well pretty lady.
Over the years, I have normally enjoyed the movies QT has made. To me his action-adventures truly are. Plus, he has never been one to scrimp on the blood, guts, bullets or edged weapons. These are simply not bad combinations for a sick puppy like me, hehehe.
I understand that QT did not direct this one, only appreciated it a great deal. But in many ways I think it is too bad he did not at least have a hand in it. As you and I have discussed in the past often, you don't have to spend a ton of money of special effects for me to enjoy the movie. Sometimes if the effects budget is meager or technology had really not advanced well given the time period or county in which the movie was filmed - just starting to show the action and then the end results can be a very effective technique to me. Given those limitations it may be the best way to handle the effects to me as well.
But from your comments even that technique was not used enough to prove effective for my favorite "sick puppette" (grinning). As you said they only showed the first crispy critter scene with the flower shop lady. After that taking them into the special room, then later dressed sitting with his other victims. I simply have to agree with you Miss Heather, at least lighting the blow torch or showing his next victim strapped naked on the table - do something to increase the creep factor. I love my blood and guts, hehehe, but if you can't keep them constantly flowing, I have never been offended by a pretty lady naked and helpless - at least in my horrors anyway, lol. It sounds like we only got that treat with the flower shop lady as well. To me, doing a bit more of either or even both, would simply have helped to keep the creep factor running high.
So on the negative side for me would be the way they chose to handle the effects. I can use my imagination easily enough, but don't make me depend on my own imagination to stay interested in that aspect of a horror - help me out a little as well. But I do have to admit, I can enjoy the psychological aspects of a horror movie if they are done well too. Watching a character slipping deeper into madness, depravity or both, can add a nice creep factor to a movie, if done well. Of course I have to admit "if done well" is a lot like the phrase "pretty lady" pretty lady(tips my hat). Both are in the eye and mind of the beholder I reckon maam. Those things that may work well for me, may not work at all for another viewer, and vice versa. But you noted it was a plus for you, and since we do tend to largely share the same "sick" factors in our horrors, the odds favor I would enjoy that element too maam.
I am a fan of QT as noted earlier. I have often enjoyed the extras in his dvds I purchased. He will openly talk about the hommage he attempted to pay to various movies while making his, and the influence they had on his work. I enjoyed that aspect from QT, as I do from other directors as well. But the simple fact he felt this movie was a classic would not have been enough to add it to my queue to watch, or rush right out to buy (if I could even find it at Wally-World. This would probably be an order, and then I would have to luck into it.)
So what is going to cause me to add it to my queue Miss Heather. Well I reckon I just said why, hehehe, Miss Heather. The fact that with the warts you mentioned you still liked it just enough to give it a 3, intrigues me I reckon sweet lady (grinning). I can't resist the sick puppy comment too, lmao. Much like the unforgettable aroma of formald in a morgue, the memorable odors of a crispy critter will stay in your mind as well. I do have to agree with you scoring. Not only does it emphasize the "sick puppette" side of this amazing lady, but it raises a very valid point. I did not get the impression that he lived out in the boonies, but rather just in town basically. Maybe one burned body might go unnoticed by his neighbors. But a room full of them, I had to sort of roll my eyes a bit too.
This is 1980 when the movie was made. Shucks I was more than up and running then and even purchased room deoderizers that were available. I recall them as being more effective than many you can buy today would be at masking odors. Besides you could easily see the liquid inside the bottle (yep imagine that, a bottle Miss Heather, and not some cute little plastic thing you plug into an electrical outlet, lmao.) I mean Airwick did work, and you could always bring the wick part more fully out of the bottle for a stronger smell. B I simply do not recall it as working so well it would have masked the strench of burned flesh that had to exist in his females only room (grinning).
Sorry maam, I don't have your talent with words, nor you writing flair (clapping). I simply have to rely on gross comments for a big ending (hehehe). I reckon I can score well on the gross quotient when I try hard too. But I really did smile when I noticed your fans had another horror review to enjoy Miss Heather. Your ability to show the plus and minuses of a movie fairly, just makes me trust your take on it too pretty lady.
So please keep your special cards and letters coming as you are able to make the time Miss Heather. Your adoring fans surely do appreciate them (smiling, tips my hat). [Do any of your other adoring fans like the idea of a Miss Heather fan club, hehehe. I sure do.]
I'm almost ashamed to say it, but I haven't seen this yet. I have no idea why. This review sparks my interest to the point to where I think I'm going to have to pick it up on eBay.
As I get older, I find that my youthful cravings for exploitation films has diminished a great deal. I've got some years before thirty. Maybe when someone hits 25 they automatically loose their depraved reptilian portion of the mind to the more fluffy neo-cortex. Maybe the left brain stops and the right kicks in. Maybe vice versa.
Anyway, I'm going to give this one a shot.
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