By Stephen Pytak 

     This is a classic, for people who have a sense
of humor that is.
     It's kind of a cross between "Psycho (1960)" 
and "The Exterminator (1980).
     There are two things which make it stand out.
     First is Dan Grimaldi's performance. He plays
"Donny Kohler," a loner with an obsession with 
fire.
     There's nothing too special about his story. 
When he was a boy, his mother tortured him by 
holding his arms over stove flames. Years later, 
when he comes home from work and finds mom 
stiff in her chair, he decides to go bonkers. 
     He builds a human incineration room in his 
basement and buys a heavy-duty welding suit 
and flame thrower. Then he lures beautiful girls
into his house and, for whatever reason, strips 
them down to zero, chains them up and burns
them to a crisp.
     But what is kind of special is how Grimaldi
plays the part. He's infuses this creep with a kind
of schizoid energy that's very watchable, and
laughable.
     When he finds mom dead, the voices in his 
head tell him it's O.K. now to play his disco 
records loud. He does. He also decides to light
a smoke in the parlor, put it out in a statue and
jump like a monkey on one of mom's antique 
chairs.
     The other thing that makes this film 
interesting is the murder of "Kathy Jordan 
(Brushay)."
     This is the first girl he lures in. She's a flower
shop clerk who thumbs a ride off him. He bonks 
her on the head and the next thing you know, 
she's hanging up in his burn room. It's a creepy
place, covered with sheets of silver reflective
metal. And she's in there, hands tied to a 
ceiling hook, her feet bound to the floor, in
her birthday suit. It's quite a sight.
     After we get an eyeful of her, Kohler comes in
wearing his welding suit, a big, baggy tan thing
with a little black rectangluar window for an 
eyehole. 
     Then he douses the screaming chick with
gas. It's something to watch, both erotic and 
terrifying. Then he picks up his flame thrower
and gives her what for.
     It's a showstopper.
     I'm still wondering what they paid her to do
that scene. 
     I  looked up Brushay on the Internet Movie 
Data Base. This was the only flick listed on her
resume there. Oh well. Unless Blue 
Underground gets the right to re-release this
film, finds Brushay and does a featurette, I 
guess we'll never know.
     Another thing I like about this flick is the 
burn-victim zombies.
     All of Kohler's victims come back to haunt him
the way Joe Spinell's did at the end of "Maniac," 
which was released the same year.
     I think the only version of "Don't Go In The
House" on DVD currently is the one put out in
1998 by Digital Versatile Disc, Ltd. It's a full-
frame piece of crap. 
     So let's hope Blue Underground, Shiek Show 
or someone out there gets the rights and gives
it a second chance at life.