The Hearse (1980)

User Rating:

3.4/10   

Director:

George Bowers

Writers:

William Bleich (written by)
Mark Tenser (idea)

Release Date:

June 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

There is a door between life and death and now, that door is open!

Plot:

Jane Hardy decides to stay the summer in the house her aunt left her when she died, to try and recoup from a bad divorce...

Plot Keywords:

Hearse | Mansion | Religion | Car Accident | Possession

Cast

Trish Van Devere	...	Jane Hardy
Joseph Cotten	...	Walter Pritchard
David Gautreaux	...	Tom Sullivan
Donald Hotton	...	Reverend Winston
Med Flory	...	Sheriff Denton
Donald Petrie	...	Luke
Christopher McDonald	...	Pete
Perry Lang	...	Paul Gordon
Fred Franklyn	...	Mr. Gordon (as Frederic Franklyn)
Olive Dunbar	...	Mrs. Gordon
Al Hansen	...	Bo Rehnquist
Dominic Barto	...	The Driver
Nicholas Shields	...	Dr. Greenwalt
Chuck Mitchell	...	Counterman
Allison Balson	...	Alice

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 (2007) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | UK:15 | USA:PG | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2002)

Company:

Marimark Productions

Quotes:

Jane Hardy: [startled by someone at her back door] Oh!
Reverend Winston: Miss Hardy, please.
Jane Hardy: [laughing, relieved] Oh! You scared the hell out of me!
Reverend Winston: I should probably take that as a compliment. *Ha ha ha ha ha!*

As good as a B-flick gets!

When Jane Hardy's late aunt leaves her a house in the country, she decides to spend the summer there to get over a nasty divorce and near-breakdown. There she begins putting the pieces back together with the help of a new romantic interest named Tom. But the town people are curiously less-than-friendly to her. Jane soon finds a reason why in her aunt's diary--the mysterious man her aunt fell in love with, who drew her aunt into darkness. Then strange things start happening--and the hearse begins showing up in the middle of the night.

This movie is wonderfully creepy without being camp, and has some scenes that are particularly unexpected and unnerving. More suspense horror than gore, it's guaranteed to keep you awake at night. The love story between Jane and Tom will keep sentimental people glued, and the terror gets all the rest. The piano-oriented title music is haunting, and suits the seriousness of the film well. This movie clearly had a low budget, yet it still ranks as a first-class movie. All in all, something worth watching and worth owning.