Mausoleum

USA/96 minutes/1983

 

Wonderfully trashy and kind of low budget, Mausoleum follows the story of a 30-year-old woman who is the unlucky inheritor of a family curse, wherein a demon unleashed from hell possesses the first-born woman of every generation in the Nomed family. As ‘Nomed’ is demon spelt backward, it is sort of obvious why the demon latches itself onto the family. The protagonist of the film is Susan (acted by minor scream queen from 1980's Bobbie Bresee), and the film intersperses her innocent, childlike behaviour with episodes of demonic possession which transform her into a sexually voracious creature with green eyes. It is not a movie to be taken seriously, as there is no plot coherence or logic to be found here, rather an abundant focus on lurid thrills through sex and gore. Speaking of gore, there is a lot of gleeful importance given to stabbings, fried skulls, chest splitting and impalements. One of the surprising scenes is found towards the end of the film, where an important character has his heart ripped out by gooey little demons inhabiting the breasts of Susan (Eww !)

Anyway, speaking of the storyline, Susan’s husband Oliver is concerned for her physical wellbeing when at night he sees her sitting in an armchair with the hideous face of a demon ! He consults Susan’s childhood psychiatrist, Dr. Simon Edwards, for a solution to his wife’s issue. While Dr. Andrews is a hardened doctor grounded in reality, he becomes inclined towards the supernatural explanation of Susan’s illness when he reads an ancient Nomed family journal detailing the curse and himself witnesses her transformation (green eyes always-but this time with a husky voice also) during a hypnosis session. He immediately consults his friend, Rene Logan, a paranormal researcher. Together, they deduce from the journal that the demon can be banished back to the mausoleum only by a ring of thorns thrown on its heads. Conveniently, the thorn head can be located at the same mausoleum where Susan was first possessed (also the site of the Nomed family grave), so it is only a matter of time before evil can be laid to rest !

The special effects of the film stand out from the mediocrity of the story and the rather laid-back execution, with a lot of emphasis on sudden gory moments. A creepy gardener hitting on Susan is dispatched by a pitchfork (with the camera lingering over the dripping blood from the spikes for quite some time), annoying and snoopy aunt Cora is levitated through the air and has her ribcage split out, a drunk guy at a club has his whole car in flame, and a horny delivery man gets half his face eaten out and an eyeball falling out on his palm ! There is also a scene where an art gallery salesman refuses to sell a painting to Susan and is levitated through several mall floors before being impaled on a sculpture. So much for the love of art !

The death scenes and signature green eyes (along with an eerie synth score signalling the arrival of the demon force) make the film so much fun to watch. In the end, the lack of story becomes insignificant in front of the stylish excesses of evil manifestations and demonic transformations. Bresee has put in sincere effort into the character Susan, and adequately portrays her in contrasting light as either a trusting, sweet housewife  or as a seething, bad tempered woman possessed. However, little effort has been put into plot elements and character development. The movie was released on a dual format DVD and Blu-Ray edition by Vinegar Syndrome in 2018, and their team has done a commendable job in bringing sharp resolution to the green and purple hues apparent in the mausoleum scenes and during other scenes of possession and demon attacks. The picture quality is sharp and clear, except for a few source print speckles, a frame freeze and minor flickers. There are optional English subtitles for the film, and the disc also includes a brief interview with the special effects FX artist, along with the customary trailer, TV Spots, and promotional stills gallery. In the interview, the special effects artist John Carl Buechler sheds light on the haphazard production of the film, and shares his fond memories about creating the crazy demon effects (and the breast demons), makeup, and his interactions with the actors.