1. Don't Go In The House (1979)
Finally released uncut in Britain in 2011, Don't Go In the House is a strange and morbid slasher film made in the delicious period when virtually anything went on our screens, and there was little censorship. Donny Kohler is a deeply disturbed man whose mother used to torture him by burning him. He is now obsessed with fire. Principally setting young women on fire. He is free to indulge his passion for pyrotechnics when his mean old mother dies. He builds a weird chamber for the purpose of burning women alive. Kathy the florist is his first victim - he gives her the old flamethrower treatment in a scene that is quite shocking to behold. More women follow in Kathy's footsteps - including Donny's mother's corpse. He dresses the victims up and they sit around a table. Voices running rampant in his head, Donny tries to quit his addiction to the flamethrower. He goes to church to confess his urges to kill. He also goes to a disco in an attempt to be 'normal'. But these do not change his severe schizophrenia and he runs around as a rampant arsonist - even setting the priest on fire. Eventually Donny cracks up altogether and hallucinates that the corpses are alive. He immolates himself in the battle to repel them and he dies. A dark and grimy little gem, Don't Go in the House is very downbeat and possesses quite impressive gore - the flaming of Kathy is very realistic and horrific to watch in particular. One almost feels sorry for Donny having such an evil cow of a mother and also having the social skills of a tramped on slug. The film generates plenty of atmosphere. Sure we know what will eventually happen, but it is an interesting route to get there. A slasher that attempts to get into the murderous protagonist's head, I would draw a parallel with the 1980 film Maniac. Both feature tortured killers who want to be normal but cannot resist their urges, imploding horribly at the end. Both are downbeat and grimy but only Don't Go in the House is a veritable Video Nasty (although I'm pretty sure the censors didn't like Maniac much either).