**This is part of my 2022 HORROR Fridays**

Don't Go in the House is more disturbing than scary. It has a certain creepy atmosphere that is always there, but intensifies as the main character looses more and more of his mind. It's got little of the nastiness you would expect from a film that ended up on as one of the Video Nasties, but it's quite interesting nonetheless.

Many people says that the acting is bad in Don't Go in the House. I beg to differ. I think Dan Grimaldi knew what he was doing. The way he was moving and the way he was talking reminded me of how people with severe psychological trauma moves and behaves. The only real bad acting I could see, was the priest.

The story has obviously been influenced by Psycho, but it can still stand on its own. It has a bit of weird pacing, but that only intensifies the discomfort of some of the scenes.

The sound and soundtrack is good. The disco soundtrack, weirdly enough, really suits it, and the sound, especially the fire, was very well done.

Don't Go in the House is probably not for everyone, but I suspect you won't be seeking it out unless you know a little about it, and want to see it.

I watched this on the new Arrow release, and it looked brilliant. Great restoration, and great extras. Well worth the money.

**_Norman Bates meets Carrie meets Willard… with a flamethrower_**

A troubled young man (Dan Grimaldi) living with his mother in the Northeast develops a penchant for bringing attractive women home for questionable reasons. Robert Carnegie plays his only friend at work, the local incinerator.

"Don’t Go in the House" (1979) is psychological horror with the mother/son base of “Psycho” (1960), the parental abuse with religious undertones of “Carrie” (1976) and the mentally disturbed young man in an old house angle of “Willard” (1971), yet with the haunting Northeast milieu of “Silent Night, Bloody Night” (1972). While not great like the first two, it’s arguably superior to “Willard” and almost on par with “Silent Night, Bloody Night.”

Blonde Gail Turner stands out on the female front as Patty, but there are a few other notables, like Johanna Brushay (Kathy) and Nikki Kollins (Farrah).

Because the bulk of the film focuses on solitary Donny’s mental issues, and effectively so, the disturbing story is kind of one-dimensional. Yet it occasionally perks up, like with the discotheque sequence.

The film runs about 1 hour, 22 minutes and was shot in the New Jersey/New York area as follows: Strauss Mansion in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey (Donny's House); downtown Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey (florist); New Rochelle, New York (clothing store & Disco); Jersey City, New Jersey; and Port Monmouth, New Jersey. Despite these locations, the story is curiously set in Maryland, as evidenced by the license plate on Donny’s truck.

GRADE: B-