The Hearse

Plot

Jane Hardy (Trish Van Devere) arrives in the town of Blackford to stay in an old house left to her by a late aunt. As time passes, Jane learns secrets her aunt kept from her in life, but that were well known by the townspeople.

In life, Jane's aunt had been a devil worshipper, and upon her death, the hearse carrying her body crashed, but no sign of the driver or of the coffin were ever found. Since then, the house inherited by Jane has been haunted by evil spirits and the rural road out of Blackford has been haunted by the hearse that crashed.

As these stories come to light, Jane attempts to leave Blackford to avoid being drawn in by her aunt's spirit, but finds herself pursued by the ghostly hearse and held prisoner inside Blackford by spirits.

Full cast

Critical reception

Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "The Hearse qualifies as this summer's garage sale of horror movies. It contains all the best clichés from recent, more successful horror movies (especially [The] Amityville [Horror] and even The Changeling, which came out last April and starred Van Devere, her husband George C. Scott and, of course, the obligatory self-banging doors and self-playing musical instruments)."

Janet Maslin of The New York Times said, "The Hearse was directed by George Bowers, and shot either in a very stylized fashion or without benefit of a light meter – many of the film's outdoor scenes feature brilliant blue skies and actors with dim, shadowy faces. As far as the horror goes, Mr. Bowers makes his film moderately scary and pretty unpleasant, too. No one gets a hatchet in the forehead, though, the way one of the actors does in Friday the 13th. Isn't that nice to know?"