Review: The Ward

Set in the 60s, Amber Heard finds herself institutionalised after having apparently burned down a farmhouse. She is put into the care of psychiatrist Jared Harris, and is introduced to fellow patients like boisterous Mamie Gummer, artistic Lyndsy Fonseca, and bitchy Danielle Panabaker. Meanwhile, although Harris seems generally concerned for his patients well-being, his methods of electroshock therapy and his frankly unpleasant staff have Heard wanting out of there in a hurry. But she finds that is easier said than done. And then her fellow inmates start dying one by one. Is it the ghost of a former patient? Or something closer to this astral plane?

I really shouldn’t be disappointed by John Carpenter anymore because he has always been an uneven filmmaker, especially in recent times (“Village of the Damned” was a particularly uninteresting remake totally unworthy of Carpenter’s time). However, it’s dispiriting to think that this filmmaker once gave us great films like “Halloween” and “Big Trouble in Little China”, whilst several others in his filmography had their moments of inspiration too (“The Fog”, “Christine”, “They Live”, “Prince of Darkness”, “Ghosts of Mars”, “Vampires”, “Memoirs of an Invisible Man”, and especially his debut “Dark Star”) even if most of them were rather on the lesser side of decent (And no, I don’t much like “The Thing”, “Assault on Precinct 13” his “Escape” films, or “In the Mouth of Madness”). Nonetheless, I couldn’t believe that the man who made one of the single best-directed and effective horror films of all-time (“Halloween”) would resort to making a thoroughly clichéd and unnecessary film that has already been done to death (“Shutter Island”, “Gothika”, etc).

It’s also a total waste of a trio of talented and beautiful young actresses (Amber Heard, Lyndsy Fonseca and Danielle Panabaker), though Heard is fine and Jared Harris is particularly interesting casting. They can’t do a damn thing, though, to make anything out of this snoozer. Meanwhile, the unfortunately named Mamie Gummer is distractingly awful as the most outwardly loony of the girls. It’s a showy and insanely awful performance.

Kudos to cinematographer Yaron Orbach, however, as this is an extremely good-looking, well-lit, and well-shot film. Composition and camera movement are especially top-notch. The music score by Mark Kilian is also worth a mention, particularly effective over some interesting title design too. I must take points off, however, for Carpenter having cast actresses with obvious no-nudity clauses. Why cast women with no-nudity clauses in a film where they’re required to take showers? Why, John, Why? (Then again, why is Amber Heard staying clothed when she’s hardly been a prude before or since? Yeah, what’s up with that?) Also, the predictably phony FX work by the overrated Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger is also a minus. How do those guys continue to get work? I’m no fan of the rather dull “The Thing”, but at least the FX in that were stellar (Rob Bottin, where the hell are you?).

The twist is obvious from the start and although it’s a well-directed film (albeit not in any distinctively Carpenter-esque way), Carpenter still deserves more blame here than writers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen. The script is the issue, but Carpenter should’ve known better and ditched this script and maybe written the film himself. Why did he make this film? What could he have possibly seen in this tired story? Is he just happy to be working at his age? You’re better than this, John. This is beneath you. Yes, you’ve made some poor films, but c’mon, a loony-bin mystery/ghost story flick? Really? If you really needed to make such a film, why not have some fun with it? You remember fun, don’t you, John? Certainly “Big Trouble in Little China”, “They Live”, “Vampires”, “Christine”, “Dark Star”, “Ghosts of Mars” (well, kinda), and “Memoirs of an Invisible Man” (c’mon, it was hilarious!) were movies that contained a sense of fun about them. But this? Totally uninspired, for what could’ve been fun schlock at the very least. If you weren’t gonna give us another “Halloween” at least give us something with a bit of inspiration, charm, irreverence, or a personal touch of some kind. Nope, none of that here.

In some ways this is a well-made film, and the music score is particularly effective. I also like seeing the insanely hot Amber Heard in a lead role (Hey, I’d rather look at her than Jamie Lee Curtis any day of the week). But this is an unnecessary and tired film from a director who is occasionally capable of outstanding work. Perhaps it’s time to retire, Mr. Carpenter, if this is all you could give us after about a decade waiting. 

Rating: C