Joseph Ellison was born in Manhattan in 1948, where he initially developed a passion for music, particularly the diverse sounds of Hank Williams Sr, Thelonious Monk, and The Maguire Sisters. His Texas-born father, who instilled a strong sense of morality in him, relocated the family around the nation, which had a profound impact on his childhood. Ellison describes his childhood as largely uneventful and typical, a far cry from the type of childhood depicted in his most famous work, "Don't Go in the House", where a sadistic mother punishes her son by burning him.
As the 1960s arrived, Ellison's fascination with music gave way to a newfound love for films, particularly the art films of Federico Fellini. This sparked his desire to become a filmmaker, and after leaving New York University in 1971, he worked on various post-production projects for smaller films. During this time, director George A. Romero approached him to appear in his 1973 viral horror classic "The Crazies", but Ellison was unable to participate due to scheduling conflicts.
Ellison spent the next several years working on various exploitation films until 1980, when he finally had the opportunity to make his own movie. "Don't Go in the House" was a grim and sickening variation on Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" (1960),about a young man who is severely abused by his mother. Every time the boy misbehaves, his mother burns him. When she finally passes away, he loses his mind and begins kidnapping young women and setting them on fire with a flamethrower, seeking revenge against his mother.
"Don't Go in the House" premiered at a time when the horror genre was being criticized by feminists for being misogynistic, and Ellison's film, along with William Lustig's "Maniac", was seen as a prime example of why the genre was deemed dangerous. Critics were scathing, labeling it "lurid trash" and "sickening", with some even suggesting that both the audience and the creators of the film were sick and deranged individuals.
Ellison himself recalls the intense reaction the audience had to his film. He once attended a double feature of "Friday the 13th" and "Don't Go in the House" in New York, where the audience screamed and cheered during "Friday the 13th", but remained silent and motionless during "Don't Go in the House". Ellison had created a film that was so effective it took the audience out of their comfort zone.
It would be six years before Ellison made another film, and it was not a horror film. The little-seen drama "Joey" was released and disappeared without the same level of outrage that had accompanied his debut effort. Following the release of "Joey", Ellison retired from filmmaking.
