Mausoleum (1983) Horror Possession Curse

Mausoleum (1983) What a wonderfully weird little film. This is one of those older films that is not objectively good but that I found entertaining anyway. Don't mistake that to think it is in any way campy fun it is not. It takes itself seriously and executes an uneven strange mix of practical effect and disjointed plot in a way most people will balk at, just not this person. The fact that I can still find old films that I have not seen is amazing to me I have been devouring the horror genre for a good forty plus years. Maybe it is nostalgia for the time period, maybe the ridiculous gratuitous nudity or that really wonderful practical effects, I just enjoyed watching this film.
  It is the story of Susan Walker played as a child in the opening by  Julie Christy Murray in her only film role who at her Mother's funeral runs off and enters the family crypt. Little does she know that there is a curse on the females of her line and by entering the mausoleum she allows herself to be possessed by a demon. glowing green eyes being the main indicator of the possession well that and the bum who happened to be hanging out in the tomb, who after frightening her runs away because she causes his head to burn up from the inside. You think this is a decent opening to the movie and you are going to see this teen  dealing with the possession but no. The film abruptly cuts to Susan as a thirty year old woman now Susan Walker Farrell played by the lovely Bobbie Bresee married to overworked and often traveling Oliver Farrell (Marjoe Gortner). Bresee a former Playboy Bunny made a short career in genre films during the 1980s. She was married to voice and radio actor Brank Bresee who later worked behind the scenes in television and created adult games like Frank Bresee's Pass Out which can still be found today.
  Now why the film waits to tell the story more than a decade after the possession is odd. Maybe the original story written by Katherine Rosenwink was reworked by Robert Madero and Cinematographer Robert Barich to fit the cast they had planned. I don't know this so don't take it as fact. The version of the film I watched was on Amazon Prime with no extras. They explain away the gap in time saying that now that Susan is the same age as her mother at the time of her death that the changes start a happening and the demon comes to the forefront.  This change primarily has three characteristics, glowing green eyes and demon face, a tendency when in the shape of Bobbie Bresee to be scantily clad and an appetite for praying mantis style sex with whatever man happens to be around.
  The protagonist seems to be Susan's long time therapist Dr. Simon Andrews (Norman Burton) who slowly figures out what is going on and executes a plan to save her from the demon before it is too late. These parts drag a bit but we learn of the family history and the curse and how it has killed generations of Walker women. When we get to the long awaited climax it has to do with placing a wreath of leaves on Susan's head which will trap the demon back in the mausoleum. A bit clunky in getting this information to us and an internal struggle for Dr. Andrews to believe this is a solution. Still the anti-climax climax and ending leave the viewer knowing the producers of this film were hoping for a sequel. Directed by Michael Dugan, the film strongly rooted in the male gaze would not even come close to taking the Bechdel-Wallace test never mind passing it. I can't really recommend the film as a work of art but in my viewing enjoyed it for the thing it is.