Don’t Go in the House

Donny Kohler returns home from his factory job one evening to find his elderly mother dead in her upstairs bedroom. The discovery triggers a mix of relief and fear as a disembodied voice that might be his mother's begins to haunt the house. This moment marks the start of his fixation on fire and control.

The following day, Donny empties an upstairs room and lines it with aluminum to make it fireproof. He spends hours preparing the space, suggesting a ritualized plan behind his peaceful facade. The act foreshadows his later use of fire as a weapon.

Donny visits a flower shop just before closing, where Kathy Jordan sells him flowers for his mother. Outside, he witnesses Kathy miss her bus and is harangued by a group of men, prompting him to offer her a ride. This invitation draws her into a dangerous sequence.

Donny invites Kathy to meet his mother, but once inside she grows nervous and tries to call a taxi. Donny incapacitates her to prevent escape. The encounter reveals his need to dominate and control the situation.

Kathy wakes bound to the ceiling of a metal-walled room. Donny, wearing a fire suit, coats her in gasoline and burns her alive with a flamethrower. The murder marks the first of his ritual executions by fire.

The following day Donny misses work and abducts a stranded female motorist. He murders her by immolation, repeating the method of his earlier killing. The act establishes a deadly pattern that he maintains with chilling calm.

After the motorist murder, Donny singes his mother's corpse and dresses it in her clothing. He creates a macabre display in the upstairs room, aligning the corpses as if they were still alive. The act reveals his twisted obsession with memory and control.

That same night, Donny repeats the same murderous scenario with Linda, whom he encounters at a grocery store. He immolates her and arranges her body with his mother and the other victims. The ritual pattern becomes increasingly ritualized and public in its aftermath.

Donny's friend Bobby calls to warn him that their boss will fire him if he misses work again. Meanwhile, apparitions of his burnt mother haunt him inside the house, intensifying his guilt and isolation. The looming threat of exposure adds pressure to his deteriorating state.

Donny visits Father Gerritty, his local priest, to discuss the nature of evil. He confesses that his mother burned him repeatedly to rid him of his innate evil. The conversation introduces a moral counterpoint to Donny's escalating acts.

On a double date at a disco, Donny's date brushes his arm over a lit candle and triggers memories of his abuse. In a surge of rage, he smashes the candleholder onto her head, setting her hair on fire. He flees the scene, leaving chaos in his wake.

Donny lures two drunk women back to his house, while Bobby contacts Father Gerritty for help. When Bobby and Gerritty break in, they manage to rescue the two women, but Donny incapacitates Gerritty with his flamethrower. Bobby extinguishes the flames and tries to intervene, but the danger remains.

Donny hides in his mother's bedroom as the voices of the burned corpses mock him. They come to life and attack, and the house goes up in flames. Donny dies amid the flames as the figures continue to torment him from beyond the grave.

Sometime later, a young boy named Michael watches a news report about Donny's death. His mother scolds him for not turning off the television and sends him upstairs to clean his room. The spectral voices that haunted Donny reach out to Michael, promising to help him as the cycle begins again.