The Hearse

I was lucky recently and won a copy of this on Blu-Ray,  I had never seen it before, despite having looked at it in the video store for years as a kid.  It was just one of those ones I never got around to renting, I assumed video stores would always be there,

First, let's talk about the disc itself.  Vinegar Syndrome did an amazing job with the transfer on this. It was scanned in 2K and restored from the original negative.  I can't imagine that it looked this good even at the time of its release.  The colors are all very bright and even the night scenes are clear.  The sound is great and level throughout the movie.  I don't like the releases where the dialogue is quiet and the action scenes deafen you.  Here every sound in the house and outside is crisp and adds to fright factor of the movie.

The edition I got had a reversible cover and I liked the art better than the original theatrical poster. The art is by Chris Garofalo and you should look at his stuff, it's amazing.  Here's a link to his site:   http://quiltfacestudios.storenvy.com/

Now onto the movie itself.  The Hearse revolves around Jane Hardy (Trish Van Devere) who moves from San Francisco to Blackford.  She takes up residence in her aunts old house, which was left to her years ago,

Now all horror fans know that once you move to an old house in the country there are two possible situations.  The house is either haunted or you will be menaced by evil locals.  In this movie it's the former, but with a dash of the latter.

"Why hey there pretty girl" there were no sexual harassment laws in the 80's

 

Once Sarah moves in she find the locals are uncooperative with her and afraid of the house.  It also doesn't take long until the titular hearse shows up to menace her at every opportunity.

Not a sight you want to see in your mirror 

 This is slow burn movie that reminds me a bit of The Changeling  and Burnt Offerings.  I enjoyed it and I miss this era of movies a lot.  There was no heavy reliance on special effects, just old fashioned suspense.

One last thing, is it just me or does the local preacher look like Reverend Kane's younger brother?