The Ward

Kristen is taken into a ward for those with mental illness, she's desperate to escape, but she's haunted by a ghostly figure.

Horror fans will of course be drawn to the name John Carpenter, but if it's horror you're after, you'll be pretty disappointed, if class The Ward as more of a psychological thriller, more towards Shutter Island than Halloween.

It's a little disappointing, Carpenter is a fantastic Director, but something about this film is a little off, maybe it's the pacing, or maybe it's the lack of out and out scares, it never really sparks into life.

It definitely has some degree of atmosphere, and the ideas are pretty good, the final revelation did come as a surprise to me.

Jared Harris is pretty good as The Doctor, and I'd rate this as one of my favourite performances of Amber Heard, she manages to make Kristen interesting.

It's not a bad film, I'd just hoped for so much more.

6/10.

The Ward is an adequate horror film but could have been directed by anyone; after such a long hiatus one would expect John Carpenter to produce something much, much better.

The film suffers from a fairly weak script (not penned by Carpenter) and the big "surprise" ending is easily deduced very early in the film. As other reviewers here have noted, the "horror" elements are basically comprised of things jumping out variety; if you expect mood and atmosphere (e.g. Escape from NY, The Thing, Prince of Darkness)--THINK AGAIN.

It would appear the film was made on an extremely low budget; 95% of the movie takes place indoors; most of it in just a few rooms. The set design adequately portrays 1966 (the film's setting), however the wardrobe, makeup and hairstyles of the primary actresses are anachronistic and undermine suspension of disbelief.

Let me expand on that last point as it betrays an artistic compromise I was surprised to see JC make; every one of the main actresses is dolled up--in a modern way. Their hair is cut, dyed, streaked, and styled in a completely modern manner. And although they're supposedly in a mental ward, they apparently put copious amounts of makeup on each and every day. And it's not old-style makeup; in one scene, a female lead character is clearly wearing lip gloss. One woman wears Ronsir Shuron (geek) glasses, however her look is much more "hipster" than it is authentic. Oh, the clothes the "patients" wear--let's just say they're colorful and fabulous...not what I'd expect to find in a mid-60s mental ward. One more thing in this area; all the primary women actresses are beautiful. This is a common element in modern "horror" films where style trumps substance; unfortunately I expected JC to make more of an effort to set an atmosphere where I'm less likely to ogle the actresses than I am to be sucked into the nightmare he's trying to portray.

Having seen every Carpenter film (in the theatre) over the past 30 years, I am disappointed that I was forced to watch the master release this nearly direct-to-DVD title. If you're a JC fan, by all means watch this, but don't expect more than a slightly above-average horror film. The biggest disappointment is that the film was directed by Carpenter and I'm left wondering if this is the best he can do, or if he was hemmed in by a small budget and producers who demanded he make a more cookie-cutter type film.

I felt it was very drawn out. Tiny little pieces were given along the way and it built to a huge, twist finish. The characters were believable and there left enough unclosed at the end to make your own decision, without any confusion - it ended without ending.

It is very riveting despite the drab surroundings, the acting does grip you, the baddies frustrate, the goodies you want to cuddle and there's one mysterious character. The doctor, it's impossible to determine which side he is on.

Very good film by a great man. Not a John Carpenter classic but worth a watch.

I'm giving this a six because of some of the performances and John Carpenters ability's to make me jump from time to time. The stand out jump scene for me was when they are going up in this lift which is probably more for objects than people. Also watch out for the scene in the morgue, just a warning! Anyway without giving too much away this film has a dark tone with very familiar characters to other movies like ' 'Girl Interrupted' or One flew over the Cuckoo's Neck, yet it would have to do a lot deeper to be considered in that bracket of great movies. It resembles something closer to 'Stonehearst Asylum' in the way it's more horror than emotionally grounded to the workings of a psychiatric ward. With the ghost of Alice Hudson into the mix haunting it's patients, Kristen (Amber Heard) sets her sights on finding out what is really going on here. But is the haunting happening internally or externally? Do we believe the patients are all seeing this ghost?

Like many have said previously in their reviews this brings nothing new to horror that we haven't seen before, therefore why is it worth your time? Well if nothing else, anybody who particularly likes horror might enjoy the effects, sound and score which John Carpenter puts together in such tantalising form it's like he never went away from directing on this comeback film. Also worth a mention is the performances for what appears to be low budget. Amber alongside Mamie Gummer give top notch believable acting which adds to the suspense in certain scenes. (Mamie Gummer) Emily I have learned is the daughter of Meryl Streep which is a tough act to follow, although she standsout here!

This movie doesn't have much in retrospect depth wise as it is pretty much a one dimensional tale with a twist at the end that leaves you feeling cheated. Like was any of it actually real kinda feeling? In hindsight we the audience know it all too well for these psychiatric ward type films. Not to say this is rubbish it just isn't anything special or overly memorable.

There has been a lot of "mental health" stuff in the cinema recently, and in almost all cases the storyline has played a trick on the audience in the manner of the brilliant "Sixth Sense". There is history in this too with the Three Faces of Eve standing out as the way to entertain, enlighten and educate film goers.

Although "The Ward" is reasonably well done it just isn't disturbing enough at the personality level to convince. Perhaps that is down to the acting but I would question a screenplay which is more about shocks than about insight. Yes there are signposts along the way just as there were in the Sixth Sense, but they are not as carefully constructed nor as lovingly lingered with as they could and should have been. It seemed to me director Carpenter wasn't too convinced of the robustness of the story told in a different, more true to life, way and instead took the route most likely to shock people with it's "twisted" end.

Most of all I felt this film lacked claustrophobia, the shackles and chains that surround mentally disturbed people both in their minds and in the places where they are secured.

There was a lot of wasted talent here and that is a great shame.