I'm proud of the fact that I was an active part of the video boom in the 80's. I spent a good portion of my childhood renting (mostly) horror films from each of the local West Coast Video's, Erol's, or street corner 'Mom & Pop' video stores that seemed to over-populate my neighborhood. At the tender age of 15-18 a healthy dose of Maniac, Wizard of Gore and Deadtime Stories kept me good company. Although I knew fantasy from reality I also knew when something I was watching was just plain wrong. So sleazy, so disturbing and oh so wrong. It was all make believe, but there were those inescapable titles that I just knew were 'not right.' Don't Go In The House is one such title. Although I wound up eventually growing into films like Maniac and Don't Go In The House, if you had asked me when I was 17 or 18, I would've told you that I didn't like them (maybe I was just lying to myself), which I guess you can say is a true testament to their impact.

Make no mistake about it; Don't Go In The House is about as sleazy as they come. And while the film is more often than not fairly typical and cliché ridden, there's also something so utterly captivating about the film that it comes across as something more than just typical. While working at an incinerator, Donny Kohler (Dan Grimaldi) witnesses one of his co-workers catch fire. Donny stands idly by while others rush to his aid. Chastised for his (non) actions Donny finds only one of his co-workers will openly come to his side, Bobby Tuttle (Robert Osth). Donny is a loner and to say that he is socially awkward would be an understatement. He turns down the opportunity to have drinks with Bobby and discuss the events of the day only to go home and take care of his sick mother. However, once he makes it to her room with a hot cup of tea, he discovers that she's passed on in her sleep.

It's at this point that Donny goes through a range of emotions, ultimately coming to the conclusion that he's thrilled by the fact the he is now free to play his music as loud as he wants and jump on the furniture like he's six. But the voices in his head won't let him forget about mother. Donny was mistreated as a child, his punishment was to have his hands held over an open flame. See where this is going? Donnie builds a steel room in the house and brings unsuspecting women home, only to strip them down, chain them up and burn them alive. He keeps their charred corpses, dressed to impress (along with his mother's rotting corpse) in the house. Making matters worse, he's constantly haunted by the voices of his victims and deceased mother.

While the film has its fair share of overused conventions, there's still that underlying charm I spoke of earlier. Hard to believe that a film like this has any charm at all, but it does. Chalk it up to interesting characters and above average performances. This and the fact that those involved with the production must have actually cared about making this film. Don't Go In The House pulls no punches and is often pretty dank and grimy. Odd is the fact that aside from the periodic reappearance of his burn victims, scenes of true exploitation are limited to his first victim (which is a doozy) and the disco scene, in which Donny flips out on his date after she pulls his arms over a candle, trying to get him on the dance floor. In close up detail, Donny's first victim is left completely naked chained up in the fire room. Donnie enters covered from head to toe in flame gear and a blowtorch to take care of business. The burning of the nude body is handled quite well and is pretty convincing and effective. As exploitative as these two scenes are, the rest of the film is not really all that graphic - but then again, these two scenes are probably just enough. In the end, Don't Go In The House feels like more than just pure exploitation. It comes across as if it were Psycho's step brother or Taxi Drivers third cousin.

Media Blasters has done a bang up job in releasing Don't Go In The House to DVD. The film was available once before as a budget, no frills full frame transfer DVD, but this new 'matted' widescreen anamorphic transfer from Shriek Show looks really sharp, and the framing really does breathe new life into this sickie. There's some minor print damage, a few scratches and some nicks, but overall, this is a really pleasing transfer. The mono audio fares just as well, with little to complain about.

Extras include an onscreen interview with Dan Grimaldi (10min), which is brief, but open and honest. He seems proud of his work, and the efforts that he and the crew put into the film. There is an underlying passion he seems to have for his first 'starring' role. Next up is a feature length audio commentary with Dan Grimaldi and while there is no moderator to help keep things moving or on track, once again, Dan comes across as a very likeable guy and he really seems to hold a place for this production. Also included is an assortment of Media Blasters trailers, including one for Don't Go In The House. The most interesting extra however, is the presentation of two key scenes from the film (first victim and disco) with an 'open matte' on the top and bottom of the screen. Explaining that the director of photography prefers the matted version of the film (as presented here) the open matte reveals a bit more on the top and bottom of the screen, including a bit of below the waist nudity in the first scene. All in all, a fabulous disc of a classically disturbing film. Highly recommended.