(dir. John Carpenter)
*First time viewing
John
Carpenter returns to horror movies with The
Ward, in which a young woman in 1966 is sent to a mental facility after
burning down a farm house. In the facility, Kristen meets the other patients who
are keeping a secret from her about the dead woman she keeps seeing in the hallways.
As the girls in the ward are killed one by one, Kristen tries to find the
reason behind the murders.
The Ward is Carpenter’s first feature in almost ten years. I wish I could say it was a return to form for a master of
genre films, but it sadly isn’t. While the script isn’t original it’s not like
Carpenter hasn’t borrowed from pre-existing films before and turned out
successful and sometimes great features. The true fault lies with the fact that
the movie is so painfully devoid of style it could have been directed by any
newcomer, instead of a virtual wizard with decades of experience. It’s visually
polished to the point of being dull and the film’s lack of personality is disappointing
for a director whose earlier works had the distinctness of being John Carpenter
films.
The story
is dreadfully boring, offering nothing in terms of scares or compelling
concepts. The characters are ill-defined psychiatric hospital clichés complete
with the girl who sings to herself and a Nurse Ratched knock off. While the
twist ending is somewhat interesting, it doesn’t save the preceding 80 minutes.
If this film had been made during the 70s or 80s, perhaps with Carpenter on script and
music duty as well as directing, it could have been at least an entertaining ride. But modern
filmmaking doesn’t seem to mesh with Carpenter’s skills.
Scare Factor: 1/5 As someone who has an immense amount
of respect for John Carpenter, trust me when I say this is one film in his
filmography you can skip. Save yourself the time and watch one of his
classics instead.
**Available to watch on Netflix Instant
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