The Hearse (1980)

The Hearse is a 1980 American supernatural horror film directed by George Bowers and starring Trish Van Devere and Joseph Cotten. It follows a schoolteacher from San Francisco who relocates to a small town in northern California to spend the summer in a house she inherited from her deceased aunt, only to uncover her aunt's past as a devil worshipper, which seems to trigger a series of supernatural occurrences.

Plot
After suffering a nervous breakdown following the death of her mother and simultaneous divorce, San Francisco schoolteacher Jane Hardy decides to spend the summer recuperating in the rural town of Blackford in a home left to her by her late aunt, Rebecca. Upon arriving, she is given keys to the home by Walter Pritchard, a local attorney who claims Jane's mother once promised to bestow him the property. Shortly after moving in, Jane begins experiencing supernatural occurrences, including witnessing apparitions of her aunt Rebecca, and a ghostly black hearse driven by a mysterious man that pulls into the driveway before vanishing. Furthermore, she is unsettled by the locals' passive-aggressive reactions to her presence in the town, including from Pritchard, who is deliberately unhurried to place the home in her name.

Release
The Hearse premiered in New York City on June 6, 1980, and had its Los Angeles premiere on September 12 of that year.