Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52507 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-02-12
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
The Hearse is an example of a horror movie subgenre: the demon-possessed vehicle. When Jane Hardy inherits her late aunt's home, she faces just such a vehicle in the form of a vintage hearse. Tormented by the car and harassed by mysterious townsfolk, Jane has to unlock her aunt's hidden secrets or perish. Part of the suspense comes from wondering if Jane is being tormented by the supernatural, her fragile emotional state, or someone just trying to scare Jane off her property.

Possessed-car suspensers can be surprisingly effective and frightening. Unfortunately, this movie is a fairly low-budget effort, offering up many standard suspense techniques that were pretty shopworn even in 1980. The end result is a film that is predictable, and has few if any real chills. Notable only as one of Joseph Cotten's last films. --Mark Savary

Customer Reviews

This creepy vehicle a nifty, nostalgic sleeper.
For a quite a long while (say twenty or so years) it looked like Crown International's The Hearse was the last of a dead breed, the low-key, character/mood oriented ghost story. Wrongly overlooked when first released in 1980, the movie suffered from having a PG rating when pushing the boundaries of special effects was all the rage. Audiences wanted flowing blood, not creepy chills. Well times have changed and now, thank goodness, creepy, subtle character oriented ghost stories are back in style, which makes The Hearse's return to commercial release all the more welcome.

A woman recovering from a near nervous breakdown chooses to do so in a dead relative's country home. However the townsfolk are far from friendly (save for the local minister, a young boy, and a handsome neighbor). Making things even more difficult are the strange dreams, spectres, and a hearse's scar faced driver that harrass the poor woman. Emphasizing character and mood, The Hearse is a near classic that is only hampered by a two swift climax (in fact, although the plot is nearly complete, it looks as if several scenes were shortened) and a too enigmatic ending. Still, fans of old-fashioned ghost stories will love having this movie in their collection. Recommended.

Good acting & mood, a bit anti-climactic
Trish Van Devere does a terrific job as the lead, and the supporting cast is uniformly convincing. The hearse itself is somewhat creepy, and the story is entertaining. Unfortunately, the climax is abrupt and a bit of a let-down. The film also suffers a bit from the "tameness" of many movies from this period. Ironically, today it would doubtless be more graphic and technically superior, but the acting and mood would likely suck. I recommend this as a "suspense" movie, but it's not really scary, just a little creepy.

0.5 STARS: YaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwN
"The Hearse" is a slow-paced, predictable and boring movie with some very bad acting. Joseph Cotton is pretty good, Trish Vandevere is fairly adequate although her character is stupid, but the actors who played Tom and the Hearse driver are nothing short of terrible...I mean they look like a couple of dorks! The ending makes no sense whatsoever and the movie ends with a thud. Quite frankly, I was bored out of my mind but decided to sit through the entire movie just to see how it ended. All things considered, this is a poor excuse for a horror movie.