Trish Van Devere plays Jane Hardy, a woman recovering from her divorce and subsequent mental breakdown. She heads out to the country to take up residence in her dead aunt's house. The residents of the town give her the cold shoulder and think that her house is haunted. A man driving a hearse as well as visions of her dead aunt torment Jane. The only person who Jane gets close to in town is Tom (Gautreaux) with whom she begins a relationship. Jane begins to lose her grip on her sanity as the visions worsen and the torment of the hearse continues.

I would rather throw myself down a flight of stairs then sit through this one again. The cinematography is fine and the lighting is good. Those are the only compliments I'll pay this thing. Oh yeah, there is a dream sequence obviously inspired by the Hammer horror films that almost won me over.

Trish Van Devere was good in The Changeling but obviously couldn't handle a starring role. Joseph Cotten (Baron Blood) is amazing as usual as the cranky Walter Pritchard. Even Donald Hotton is creepy as Reverend Winston and David Gautreaux is almost worth mentioning as Tom.

The biggest problem with The Hearse is that it is too tame. Aside from a few lame attempts at cheap scares, there just isn't much going on during the movie. Horror movies don't have to have gore and nudity to be interesting. They must have a creepy atmosphere or at least a sense of dread. The Hearse has neither and nothing else to redeem itself. The poster art is more interesting than the entire film. I've already said too much about this hunk of junk.