The Hearse
| The Hearse | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | George Bowers |
| Written by | William Bleich |
| Starring |
Trish Van Devere Joseph Cotten David Gautreaux Donald Hotton |
| Music by | Webster Lewis |
| Distributed by | Crown International Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Hearse is a 1980 American horror film starring Trish Van Devere and Joseph Cotten.
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
- 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
- Al Hansen – Bo Rehnquist
- Dominic Barto – The Driver
- Nicholas Shields – Dr. Greenwalt
- Chuck Mitchell – Counterman
- Allison Balson – Alice
- Jim Gatherum – Boy #1
- Victoria Eubank – Lois
- Tanya Bowers – Schoolgirl
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)."[1]
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?"[2]
J.C. Maçek III of WorldsGreatestCritic.com wrote, "Many horror fans might call it 'boring', but the right people will watch The Hearse and appreciate it for the surprises, the fun and...Trish Van Devere in her running shorts. Yeah, it could use an overhaul and yeah, the occasional moments let the air out of The Hearse's tires. For those who thought that lame-ass remakes like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th were quality pictures or thought that anything from Slob Zombie constitutes the future of Horror, The Hearse is not for you."[3]
References
- ↑ Roger Ebert (June 7, 1980). "The Hearse". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
- ↑ Janet Maslin (June 7, 1980). "The Hearse is Ghoulish Concoction". Movies. New York Times. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
- ↑ J.C. Maçek III. "The Hearse". WorldsGreatestCritic.com. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
External links
- The Hearse at the Internet Movie Database
- The Hearse at AllMovie