Simply A Masterpiece

Don't listen to the negative reviews

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

At her mother's funeral, an upset daughter runs through a graveyard before entering a steaming mausoleum. Inside, her eyes turn green and a man's head explodes. A woman, Susan (Bobbie Bresee) awakes suddenly from the terrible dream she's been having, and her husband (Marjoe Gortner) comforts her. The pair go to a nightclub and indulge in some disco dancing, and a rude drunk gets into his car which burns and explodes. An odyssey of death has just begun.Demonic possession was all the rage in the early '80s and this low budget film, which looks very cheap indeed, is surprisingly enjoyable, mainly due to the series of gory deaths which fill it up. The make up is okay too, and it's obvious where the money was spent. There isn't much plot to speak of, and explanations are given in dream sequences with no dialogue, so there isn't anything to muddle your brain while watching. It's a simple tale of a demon-possessed woman who murders literally anybody who steps into her life (and house).The gore is plentiful, including a man's eyeball coming out, and a woman's chest being graphically torn open. Another comedy moment involves a man's head exploding with a pop noise. It's hilarious, it really is! Obviously it looks like I'm a complete sicko now, but the gore is pretty ineptly done so it isn't disturbing or anything - just amusing, and overall, fun. The film is populated by strange characters, and not one person can be described as 'normal'. The gardener is a voyeur, and most of the men have sex on their minds (nothing new there).Marjoe Gortner is the curly-haired husband who remains hilariously oblivious to all the murders going on around him and to the fact that his loving wife is in fact a demon in disguise, even when he's murdered he still doesn't get it. Bobbie Bresee is a supremely untalented actress who shows a surprising willingness to strip off for the camera and prance around topless. Her bad acting is pretty funny. There's even a doctor character obviously based on Doctor Loomis from HALLOWEEN, which is no bad thing, and a black housekeeper who offers comic dialogue. Bresee's demon makeup is also pretty funny and fake. There is one unique moment in this film when Bresee's breasts become little demon faces complete with snapping teeth, and then proceed to rip out her screen husband's chest. It's a memorable scene in what is otherwise a cheaply made abomination with enough gore and bad special effects to stop it being entirely useless - just slightly. Worth a look if you're in the mood.

Watched this film and have to say that it was rather fun. If only they had tightened this film up a bit it would have been a six or seven instead of just a five. There are a few to many scenes that play out very slowly though that could have been trimmed down which would have made this one flow better. It also had some rather silly things within, though they kind of made the film more fun to watch, scenes that were meant to be serious, but came across as funny. The story has a little girl running through a cemetery after her mother's funeral. She comes across a mausoleum and enters and this is going to be the starting of something evil. Years later she begins to show signs of not being herself. Nothing big at first, but once her eyes start glowing green and she sets the car of a guy who made a pass at her on fire you know that she is not quite right. So throughout the film she does more and more strange things like inviting the gardener into the garage for a quickie then killing him! All the while her husband remains nearly oblivious to everything she is doing. She could have told him "I had sex with the gardener then killed him." And he would just pass it off as a joke. At least the housekeeper figured something was up and it was refreshing to see a person in a horror movie for once just book up and leave. Meanwhile, about the only thing that makes the husband show signs of concern when he wakes up in the middle of night and sees his wife in a rocker. I realize she may have had monster make up on, but it is so dark you can not tell so I laughed a bit after that cause it just seemed the only thing that could have upset him was being in the chair. A landscaper comes by and this poor guy does not even get some before he gets killed like the gardener at least did. Then the film wraps up as the woman's psychiatrist learns the awful truth tells the hubby to stay away from his wife as much as possible and the hubby proceeds to not heed the doctor's advice, but I am sure even the psychiatrist did not foresee her turning into a demon and ripping the husband's chest with killer boobies. Yes, this movie was a fun watch, the kills rather good and some interesting moments and moments of hilarity both intentional and not. Just tighten it up and remove the husband and wife dance scene and I would have given this film a higher score. This film though is not to be confused with the other "Mausoleum" movie made around the same time, it though is more commonly known now as "One Dark Night" I believe. Both though could feel comfortable calling their movies mausoleum as they both do feature said place quite a bit. It is more of the catalyst though in this film, while in that one it is more of the setting. Want to watch that one again so I can review it again more accurately, this one though was a trip.

One of the truly awful horror films ever made. I saw this in the movie have been scarred ever since. The plot has a young girl going into the haunted crypt of her family activating a family curse that causes her years later to become possessed and turn into a monster. This film is dull boring and incredibly stupid. Sure the monster looks okay, but everything else is just bad the visual effects especially. I remembered only three things about this film the first time I saw it, star Bobbie Bressee's shower scene, Lawanda Paige's wise cracking (which is the one real shining moment) and how bad this film is. The only reason I tried it again last night was that it was on a double feature DVD and I wanted to see if it was as bad as I remembered. It was. This is one to avoid.(I can not imagine that anyone in their right mind would want to listen to a commentary track, but there is one on the disc.)

I have just seen Mausoleum on video, mostly on fast-forward to save me the time of laughing too hard. Be warned!!! The box cover looked "spooky" and inviting to this horror aficionado wanting a cheap 80's scare. What I saw in the first 20 minutes was pure crap! Beyond below production values made me think of some cheap foreign language student film. It seemed like all the actors were voiced over with ADR. I had seen this film on video shelves since I was 12 years old and had always wanted to rent it. Mausoleum has climbed to the top charts of some of the worst movies I have ever seen. I have seen cheap, low-budget thrillers before like Piranha II: The Spawning, The Evil Dead, Phantasm, The Hills Have Eyes, etc. and have been able to find some sort of redeeming qualities from those movies, be it capable acting, above average effects, decent production values, etc. but not even La Wanda Paige's comic turn could lift the movie out of the out-house. For all of you horror film-buffs, viewing Mausoleum will be a one and only time experience as all films should be viewed at least once. This film will be immediately forgotten if it weren't one of the tackiest, useless viewing experiences (even in fast-forward) of my adult life.