Exploitation Cinema: Mausoleum (1983) and Blood Song (1982)

So just in case you haven’t read any of my other reviews of these discs, including when they were called Welcome to the Grindhouse, I’ll give a little refresher.  You get a double feature of lower budget exploitation movies with trailers before the features and concession stand ads between the movies.  Basically they try and give you the whole theater experience in your own home.  Minus the junkies and prostitutes of course, but then again who knows. 

The disc starts off with some trailers.  First up is Final Exam, which looks like a cool slasher movie that I’ve never seen.  It definitely goes on my list of slasher movies that I have to track down and watch.  I will have watched all the 80s slasher movies before I’ve died no matter how many brain cells it costs me!  Next up is a trailer for Nightmare (aka Nightmare in a Damaged Brain).  I’ve seen this movie before and found it to be sort of cool.  If you get a chance to I recommend checking it out.  A trailer for an exploitation movie called the Babysitter finishes up the coming attractions.  I’ve never seen this movie, but have it on one of my DVD collections.  I have a sneaking suspicion that everything worth checking out in the movie is contained in the two minute long trailer. 

Mausoleum (1983)

The movie opens up with a young girl at her mother’s funeral.  When her aunt tells her she is coming to her home to stay she freaks out and runs away.  You can tell something is up when her aunt starts to say things like, “no not her too”.  The young girl runs into the family mausoleum and apparently awakens a demon that lives there.  See this family, the Nomed (demon backwards don’t you know) is cursed with a demon that likes to hang with the first-born girls of the clan.  So when years later on her 30th birthday she is possessed by the demon and given evil powers we aren’t surprised.  She sleeps with the gardener, the delivery guy, and her husband.  None of which is better for the experience.  Finally her family therapist shows up to help rid her of the demon, which he knows how to do by reading the family’s how to journal on breaking the curse.   

Okay I’ll freely admit that this is a silly movie with a plot that is just plain dumb.  It serves as nothing more than an excuse to get the lead actress nude and in compromising positions so that she can kill her victims.  But unlike many lesser movies that try too hard to be cheesy fun I found Mausoleum to be well paced and never boring.  From start to finish the movie gives the viewer exactly what we expect without wasting our time.  The cast isn’t great, but does what is necessary to movie the action along.  In the lead role as Susan Bobbie Bresee is beautiful and charismatic, but can’t act at all.  But she looks good with her top off, which is what really matters in a movie like this.  I also got a kick out of seeing actor Marjoe Gortner (Food of the Gods, Viva Knievel!) as Susan’s husband.  He is one of those actors that you might not recognize he name you know who he is.  Again I’ve never though of him as a great actor, but he is fine for this movie.  Finally keep an eye out for LaWanda Page, who I recognized from Sanford and Son, as the family maid.  It is a small role but she gets the best lines in the whole movie!  Really funny stuff. 

The special effects are entirely practical as one would expect and range from all right (some of the wire gags) to awesome (demon boobs that eat people!).  Don’t expect Savini like gore and quality, because this is just a cheesy, but fun movie.  I was also impressed with the design and look of the demon creature, as well as the various stages the Susan character goes through.  Given the limited screen time that each stage gets they spent more time and money on them that I would have thought.  Camera work, lightning, and sound are all decent as well. 

So we have a competently made movie with a cheesy story line that delivers some laughs.  I was very pleased after watching the movie and think that it is worth recommending. 

3 out of 4

So now we have more trailers.  The first trailer is for Savage Streets.  I will have a review up eventually for this movie.  To be honest I’m not a fan.  Then we have a trailer for Beyond the Door, which looks pretty damn cool.  I think it is supposed to be an Exorcist rip-off and just came out on DVD.  I will be tracking down a copy of this for sure.  Finally there is a trailer for a movie that I have to see, but can’t find a copy of, Killer Fish.  Please if anyone out there has a copy please let me know I need to see this.  Now onto the bottom half of our double feature, Blood Song. 

Blood Song (1982)

The movie opens in the past with a husband coming home early from a trip to find his wife sleeping with another man.  He kills both of them and then himself, all in front of his young son.  The boy grows up to have real issues, especially anyone who wants him to stop playing the small flute his father made for him.  Then we are introduced to a nice young girl named Marion.  She seems to have some sort of connection with the killer as she sees all of his crimes.  Eventually it is explained that she had a blood transfusion from him and now the two are connected.  Whether it is this or the fact that she finds him burying a body he starts to stalk her with the intention of making her his next victim.  Toss in a subplot about Marion’s boyfriend and her father’s dislike of him and you have the movie in a nutshell. 

This is one of those mediocre movies that isn’t memorable for either being really good or really bad.  The story is both slow and confusing.  First of all not much happens for long stretches of the movie, which is really boring.  It is only when the killer, played by Frankie Avalon, is on screen that it picks up and is interesting at all.  The whole sub plot with Marion’s father and her boyfriend did nothing for me but slow the movie down.  Secondly I sort of get the connection between the two with the blood transfusion, but is seemed forced and kind of stupid.  Plus this is mentioned in one line of dialogue, so if for those three seconds you weren’t paying attention you are screwed.  Now I did mention the movie being better when the killer is on screen.  Partly I think that is because that storyline is more developed and interesting to me, and partly because of a good performance from Frankie Avalon.  He walks a fine line in his performance between really scary character and hammy overacting (the fork truck bit was pretty bad).  Occasionally he does go too far but for the most part he is convincing and frightening.  I also thought that the actress portraying Marion (Donna Wilkes) isn’t too bad.  Though the movie wastes the great Richard Jaeckel, who plays Marion’s father, which was a real bummer. 

I almost consider Blood Song to be a slasher movie.  You have all the hallmarks of one with the psycho stalking and killing people, a pretty young woman who finally defeats the killer, and a body count.  But Blood Song fails to deliver any nudity, which is all right and wont’ make me not like a movie.  It also fails to deliver the clever kills and gore, which is a must for a movie like this.  Now here is where I have a big problem with the movie.  If you are going to make a low budget horror film, especially what is basically a slasher movie, you have to toss some of the red stuff around.  Other than one head in a dumpster this movie fails miserably.  This more than anything else is what had me struggling to keep awake while watching this.  Other technical issues are the poorly light scenes where it is nearly impossible to see the action and a few sound problems. 

The more I think about it the more convinced I am that Blood Song is a less than mediocre movie.  I can’t really recommend this movie as either a purchase or rental.

1 ½ out of 4

So there you have it.  One cool movie and one not so cool movie.  Toss in the trailers and some fun intermission ads for your concession stand (fridge I guess) and you have a pretty good way to kill an evening.  I’ve already given each movie a rating but for an overall DVD rating I’d have to say 2 ½ out of 4 is fair. 

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer

© Copyright 2008 John Shatzer