The Ward

Nicely shot, if slightly claustrophobic, thriller set in the 60's, that was better than I expected.

After a young woman is found setting fire to an abandoned house she is taken to the local asylum. There she meets 5 other young women, all patients because of various mental 'illnesses'.

What follows is a ghost story which, at times, had me quite spooked.It seems that the girls have upset someone who is unwilling to forgive them. Various escape attempts, therapy sessions and red herrings follow. OK, it's no classic, but it had a genuinely interesting story that kept me hooked until the end.

Well worth a watch

I'm 36 years old and in 1981 the first horror movie I saw was John Carpenters "Halloween". I was 6 year old and subsequently I became an úber fan of the Director. I've worshiped the great ones (Assault on precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, The Thing, Prince of Darkness) enjoyed the good (Christine, Star Man, Big Trouble in little China, They Live, In the mouth of madness, Vampires) and stomached the bad (Escape from L.A, Village of the damned, Memoirs…, Ghosts of Mars). "The Ward" seems to fall into all of these categories. Sometimes it's great, more often than not it's good but regrettably when it's bad it's really bad. Perhaps it was the lack of a traditional Carpenter score (although the score by Mark Kilian is suitably haunting, memorable and atmospheric) or maybe it was the somewhat derivative "jump" scares or could it have been the inconsistent overall tone because to me it felt like I was watching a movie made by someone trying to emulate Carpenter rather than a movie by "The Master" himself. Don't get me wrong, technically it's excellent and it contains a few moments of genuine tension but there was something missing from the ingredients that make a great Carpenter movie and I think that something is called suspense. It's a shame really because with its eerie location, its linear, albeit uninspired storyline and its quirky characters this had the potential to bring the Director back to the top where he truthfully belongs but throughout I couldn't help feel that Carpenter's become jaded within the genre. His techniques that were groundbreaking during his prime have been exploited by every other Horror Director of the last 20 years. So instead of evolving above this and carving a revolutionary way forward as he once did so gracefully, Carpenters now imitating his old self and his techniques just don't seem to cut it anymore. To be fair it's an enjoyable and fast moving 88 minutes but from an old Pro like John Carpenter I was expecting something a lot more terrifying. When Carpenter reviewed his initial cut of "The Fog" back in 79 he found it plodding and just not scary enough so he went back and re-shot scenes then re-cut it into the classic it is today. I think if Carpenter had taken the same approach with this movie it could've been up there with the best of the best but something tells me that he's become indifferent, lost his passion and dare I say "only in it for the money". Over time I may grow to love this like I grew to love "Prince of Darkness" but as of right now it's left me feeling somewhat dis-satisfied.

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.

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.

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.