Mausoleum (1983)

Dir. Michael Dugan

Possession is a great tool in the horror genre, ripe for any number of representations of human agony. Throughout the years we’ve seen possessions, demonic, ghostly, or otherwise stand in for (among other things) puberty (The Exorcist [1973]), alcoholism (The Shining [1980]), grief (The Babadook [2014]), and mental illness (Hereditary [2018]).  In less “classy” films, demonic possession is mostly an excuse for a gore free-for-all, showcasing gnarly facial prosthetics, color contacts, and bodily evisceration. Here you find The Evil Dead (1981), Night of the Demons (1988) , Demons (1985), Demon Wind (1990), et al. Mausoleum falls squarely in this latter camp, though there is a small glimmer of aspirations toward the former.

Young Susan has just attended her mother’s funeral, where she is drawn to the Nomed family tomb by the call of a choir eerily chanting her name. Once inside, she encounters spooky green and purple lights, while a gesturing shadowy figure makes shadowy gestures at her before killing a tramp who followed her inside. Years later, Regular Aged Susan (Bobbie Bresee) is happily married to Oliver (Marjoe Gortner, a sort of 70s-80s B-movie Matthew McConaughey), but her Aunt Cora is concerned that, it being the twentieth anniversary of her mother’s death, that Susan will fall prey to the same curse that befell her mother. She’s right of course, and it doesn’t take long for Susan to begin reveling in bloodshed, with glowing green eyes, claws, and spooky demon face. 

One of the film’s greatest assets is its rather brisk pace, with Susan immolating and slashing through side characters including an accosting drunkard at a club, and the lecherous family gardener, while her husband, aunt, and therapist try to figure out (to varying levels of effort) what’s wrong with her. There’s some filler for sure, but it’s never too long between death scenes, cutting out the nuances of story and character development in order to let the effects work shine, and shine it does. John Carl Buechler (Troll, Ghoulies, Friday the 13th Part VII) crafts some seriously satisfying gore in the form of face clawings, chest rips, impalement, and a pretty nice partial head explosion. Instead of the entire head exploding (a la Scanners [1981] or Maniac [1980]), Buechler creates a small burst of the skull, more akin to a bullet creating an exit wound. It’s a more subtle head explosion. A kinder, gentler head explosion. The demon makeup on Susan is quite impressive as well, at least until the end when they go full rubber suit with it. It’s an impressive rubber suit to be sure, but it’s never as convincing as the comparatively minimal prosthetics in the earlier scenes. It’s also toward the end where the pace gets bogged down a bit, with Susan’s therapist doing a lot of walking around a dark house, leading eventually to a cross dissolve transformation that seems to go on forever. The film isn’t hurt too much by this as it’s pretty much over at this point anyway. 

Mausoleum is a very silly movie (there’s a distinctly “Nilbogian” twist that would have me rolling my eyes if it didn’t go completely over my head), but it’s decently crafted. If you’re willing to stretch and squint your eyes, you could almost call it a sort of proto-Hereditary, with similar themes involving inherited mental illness. I don’t think the filmmakers had anything quite that lofty in mind, as the film never really builds toward anything, content to cycle through scenes of exposition and slashing. Still it’s fun to make the comparison. The performances are goofy, but committed, which is appreciated. B-movies are better when they’re played straight, without all the hammy winking. Bresee in particular does all she can with her demonic housewife. She’s asked to do some ridiculous stuff, but she gives it her all and that's commendable (especially since she had to get groped by some gross schlubby dudes, which is always a bummer to watch). Mausoleum isn’t original, and it’s not thought provoking. But it’s a fun, if unsubstantial way to kill 96 minutes. Though it could’ve been a more solid way to kill 88.

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