"John Carpenter's The Ward" review by Ben Kenber

Master John Carpenter described “The Ward,” his first feature length movie in ten years, best through a video message at the Toronto International Film Festival:

“’The Ward’ is an old school horror movie made by an old school director.”

It’s good to know that going in as Carpenter is not trying to reinvent the wheel or outdo all other horror releases out now. The plot of “The Ward” is as old fashioned as they come, and it allows Mr. Carpenter to exercise the skills he has perfected for many years. It’s not on a par with “The Thing” or “Halloween,” but in the end I didn’t care. For me it was an absorbing movie that kept me entertained throughout its running time, and it was far more entertaining than the summer blockbusters duds that were “Green Lantern” or “Bad Teacher.”

“The Ward” stars Amber Heard as Kristen, a young woman whom we first see her indulging in a little pyromania (and not the Def Leppard kind). The police pick her up after she burns down an abandoned farmhouse, and Kristen gets sent straight into the ward of the movie’s title. Her fellow patients are not necessarily the “Girl, Interrupted” type and Angelina Jolie is nowhere to be found. The intentions of Dr. Stringer (Jared Harris) appear ambiguous at best, and dealing with the chief orderly and Nurse Lundt who are both deadly serious is no picnic.

Actually, I want to segue here a moment; Nurse Lundt’s name seems to rhyme with a certain derogatory word. Which one you say? Well… You can just figure that out on your own. I wonder if that was intentional on the part of screenwriters Michael and Shawn Rasmussen or just the name of someone they knew from way back. Well, whatever the case, Lundt certainly gives Nurse Ratched a run for her money in the seriously mean category, but her voice is not as lovely as Louise Fletcher’s was to offset that.

Now this being a psychiatric ward, it is mandatory that a ghost be roaming the halls. Kristen first sees it while taking a shower, and of course everyone says she’s a nut which is redundant considering that she’s in a mental institution. Then again, the patients may know more about what’s going on than they initially admit. I hate to think they’ve spent all that time in the ward without seeing at least one ghost, you know? Anyway, patients start to disappear one by one and Kristen aims to find out what happened to them on top of escaping the ward before it claims her as its next victim.

Whatever you think of John Carpenter’s directorial skills today, his efforts in generating suspense are still strong. Carpenter is smart in not revealing all the important plot details right away, and he strings you along throughout leaving you guessing or imagining what’s really going on. Even if you see the ending coming from a mile away, the journey to it was an entertaining one for me.

I was skimming through another review of “The Ward” which said that Amber Heard was as believable a mental patient as Charlize Theron was a mine worker in “North Country.” What’s that supposed to mean exactly? That she’s too good looking to be in a psychiatric ward? Give me a break! Amber does good work here portraying a strong willed protagonist you want to root for. She’s engaging and believable and while others may see her as being miscast, I certainly don’t.

By the way, I thought Charlize Theron was great in “North Country” and I utterly accepted her as a mine worker. And in case that one reviewer didn’t notice, Charlize and Amber were both in “North Country,” and played different versions of the same character.

I enjoyed the rest of the cast as well which like “The Thing” favors one gender (in this case female) and is devoid of sexual tension. Lyndsy Fonseca is very good as Iris, the first girl to befriend Kristen. She appears to be the most emotionally balanced of the patients, and Fonseca makes her character’s awareness all the more convincing. Mamie Gummer gives a good performance as Emily and gives her a complexity she might otherwise not have had. Danielle Panabaker makes her character Sarah the epitome of Carly Simon’s classic tune “You’re So Vain,” and she’s a kick to watch. Laura Leigh rounds out this strong group of actresses by making Zoey a convincingly traumatized person whose escape from reality consists of her acting like a little girl.

In terms of horror, Carpenter makes effective use of cheap scares. While they have been used to death by dozens of filmmakers, he always make them count in each movie he makes. This is especially the case with “The Ward’s” final scene which took me by surprise. I should warn you though that the movie has one of those pull out the rug from under you “Shutter Island” kind of endings which I am really sick of. However, Carpenter doesn’t telegraph the ending to us like Scorsese did at the beginning, so I’m willing to let it pass this once.

If there’s anything missing from “The Ward,” it’s the music of John Carpenter I am a big fan of his music as well as movies, and that unique sound of his was missed. Not that I want to knock Mark Kilian’s work here as he gives the movie an appropriately atmospheric score that works very well, and it does have a bit of that Carpenter sound to it. If it ever gets a release on CD or iTunes, I will certainly consider buying it. Still, I yearn for a new score from Carpenter or even his son Cody who did amazing work on the “Masters of Horror” episodes his dad directed.

Am I being too forgiving to “The Ward?” Perhaps I am. I’ve always been a big admirer of John Carpenter’s work and even have good things to say about “Ghosts of Mars.” Many have expressed their big disappointment with “The Ward” as they want it to be on a par with “Halloween” and “The Thing.” Others found it not gory enough, but then again Carpenter’s strongest efforts usually don’t rely on it like the “Saw” movies do. Personally, I didn’t want to spend time comparing “The Ward” to his best movies because that was just asking us to hate it before the opening credits even begin. You can only let an artist remain in the shadow of their past work for so long until you realize your spoiling the experience for yourself.

With “The Ward,” Carpenter was looking for a movie with a tight schedule and limited location that didn’t require him to stay for a long time or get completely exhausted after shooting only half of it. With the limited resources he had, John made “The Ward” worth watching, and I got very involved in the plights of the characters. There’s nothing original on display here, and it may very well remind you of a gazillion other movies like it, but I’m glad the master finally directed a feature film again after so long.

Too bad its getting only a limited release which redefines the term “limited.” It’s playing in one theater in Santa Monica once a day in the evening. I ended up watching “The Ward” on VOD. I guess since it’s not a horror remake or a sequel, the studio wasn’t as eager to get behind it the way they would with a reboot like “A Nightmare On Elm Street.”

Oh well, I just hope we don’t have to wait another ten years for John Carpenter’s next film. And if there’s anyway Kurt Russell can star in it, you can bet I will be at the cinema on opening day!

* * * out of * * * *