Enjoyable, but unexceptional mystery/horror about a potent Mesoamerican relic

This mixes the evil spirit shenanigans of “The Exorcist” with the misshapen man-beast bits of “Altered States” while the faith-in-the-idol angle is done better in the future “Wendigo” (2001). It’s one of those ‘almost’ movies that almost works enough.

Both Lisa Erickson as blonde teenager Julie and Suzy Stokey as brunette journalist Sandy are effective on the female front. Meanwhile the three teens investigating the spooky happenings is reminiscent of Scooby-Doo, albeit without the dog.

Unfortunately, there’s just not enough to push the flick beyond mediocre. It needed a rewrite to flush out the potential, but that takes time and time is money in the movie biz. Still, I enjoyed it well enough for a streamlined mystery/horror from the early ’80s.

It was shot in Redondo Beach, California, which is just southwest of Los Angeles.