The Hearse (1980)

31% of users liked it
(945 ratings)

The Hearse, directed by George Bowers is a clichéd, predictable horror film which, despite its interesting cast, is derivative and uninspired. Jane (Trish Van Devere) inherits a mansion from an aunt, whom she closely resembles. The townspeople believe that her aunt was possessed by Satan, and Jane… More The Hearse, directed by George Bowers is a clichéd, predictable horror film which, despite its interesting cast, is derivative and uninspired. Jane (Trish Van Devere) inherits a mansion from an aunt, whom she closely resembles. The townspeople believe that her aunt was possessed by Satan, and Jane becomes increasingly frightened when she is haunted by visions of a hearse that keeps showing up in front of her door. Walter Prichard (Joseph Cotton) is a argumentative attorney who does nothing to help Jane, who begins to think she is having a nervous breakdown. All of this is familiar and has been done far better elsewhere. Director Bowers paces the film far too leisurely to create much suspense, and the "surprise" ending is evident to all but the most unsophisticated viewer. The Hearse, routine and slow, will lull most horror fans to sleep. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG, 1 hr. 37 min.
Directed By: George Bowers
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Horror

On DVD: Feb 12, 2002

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The events in this movie happen because they have happened in other horror movies and seemed like a good idea at the time. We know better.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A pretty dull affair.

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Tim S

One of the few movies that ever nailed the lone female moving into an old house and taking on the supernatural is The Sentinel. It has some geuinely creepy moments and managed to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix in terms of batshit story ideas. It's a… More
One of the few movies that ever nailed the lone female moving into an old house and taking on the supernatural is The Sentinel. It has some geuinely creepy moments and managed to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the mix in terms of batshit story ideas. It's a brilliantly insane piece of work, and definitely underappreciated. I can certainly give it much more praise than The Hearse, which sort of tries to do the same thing, but ultimately winds up being boring. It has a couple of good things about it. It has a late career performance from Joseph Cotton and a small part for Perry Lang. Trish Van Devere's performance is mostly straightfoward, and she's just not very good in it. The only time when she gives it her all is when she's acting crazy and frustrated. In those moments she's very believable, but uninteresting in the rest of the film. The score had me laughing from how cheesy it was, but there's really not much about this movie to like. If you're a feminist, you'll appreciate how strong Van Devere's character is I suppose, but if you want a superior film, watch The Sentinel instead. The Hearse is a curiosity, and nothing more.
Jeff "

The Hearse is a pretty interesting idea for a horror film. I found that the film is fairly underrated and despite the fact that it's somewhat cliché, inspired and derivative of other, better horror films; The Hearse is a good enough film. One thing that you should keep in mind… More
The Hearse is a pretty interesting idea for a horror film. I found that the film is fairly underrated and despite the fact that it's somewhat cliché, inspired and derivative of other, better horror films; The Hearse is a good enough film. One thing that you should keep in mind while watching The Hearse is that despite some overused ideas, a horror film can still be fun. The Hearse is most certainly that. There's some decent acting on-screen and the chills are decent. As a ghost story, The Hearse is a good enough film to watch, and is underrated. The film does use elements from other horror films, and director George Bowers steadily builds up the tension to a surprise final. The film is certainly entertaining, but there are of course a lot of aspects in the film that could have been improved upon. The Hearse has some creepy moments, but after a while the plot seems to fall apart. The film is a good enough horror film to watch, but is never really excellent. The films idea is wonderful and there is a good cast here. As a horror film, The Hearse does entertain, but it uses a derivative formula and what could have been a great horror film is simply a good one. Nothing wrong with that, however considering that the plot revolves around a haunted house and Hearse, the film could have been much better than it is. I enjoyed the film, but once you finish it, you realize that there are plenty of elements that could have been improved upon. Still, if you love a good ghost story, The Hearse despite its flaws, is still worth checking out.
AJ V

Not a good movie. There was potential for an alright horror movie here, but it wasn't used properly, and then it crashed and burned in the end. I was surprised to see Joseph Cotton was in this movie too, he used to be a great actor. Overall this movie is unbalanced, confusing,… More
Not a good movie. There was potential for an alright horror movie here, but it wasn't used properly, and then it crashed and burned in the end. I was surprised to see Joseph Cotton was in this movie too, he used to be a great actor. Overall this movie is unbalanced, confusing, and dull.
Randy T

Pointless drive-in fodder that is really just a hodge-podge of elements gleaned from other horror films. *<i>NOTE</i>: Am I losing my mind or did I see a very young Dennis Quaid as the telephone repairman???
El Hombre I

Hmmm...well, The Hearse makes use of a lot of standard fare; dolls, slamming doors, banging pipes, repeated stock footage of a car, bad dreams, and the camera's point of view providing tension (pretty bad camerawork, by the way). As for the story, there are plenty of gaps, and… More
Hmmm...well, The Hearse makes use of a lot of standard fare; dolls, slamming doors, banging pipes, repeated stock footage of a car, bad dreams, and the camera's point of view providing tension (pretty bad camerawork, by the way). As for the story, there are plenty of gaps, and the writers apparently realized an hour in that people are supposed to die in these movies. The ending is completely predictable, which is better than forcing a twist, but not very satisfying overall. In general, The Hearse is a haunted house movie that tries to also be a haunted car movie, combining two formulas for flat results. Too bad it's one of Joseph Cotten's last films.
Lafe F

A freaky and effective horror movie as a woman is stalked by a spooky hearse and its creepy driver.