By Robert Scucci
| Updated
2010’s The Ward (or John Carpenter’s The Ward) is such a troublesome movie to speak about as a result of it’s a run-of-the-mill psychological horror flick. It’s not horrible, simply extremely by-product. Think 2003’s Identity meets 2005’s The Jacket, each of which price round $30 million to supply, however with solely $10 million to drag it off.
The Ward leans into its limitations properly, and it’s a enjoyable technique to spend 89 minutes, but it surely’s additionally from the man who introduced us Dark Star, Halloween, The Thing, and They Live. In that context, it nearly makes me glad Carpenter is now in his side-quest period, popping up on Gunship albums and narrating retrofuturistic dystopias over ripping synth traces.
Amber Heard Is An Unreliable Witness. There’s A Joke Here Somewhere.
Set nearly fully in a psychiatric hospital, The Ward facilities on Amber Heard’s Kristen, who’s locked up after burning down a farmhouse for no clear cause. There, she meets a bunch of troubled younger ladies, together with the freewheeling and impulsive Emily (Mamie Gummer) and the flirtatious imply woman Sarah (Danielle Panabaker). Rounding out the group are Iris (Lyndsy Fonseca), a inventive sort with an inventive streak, and Zoey (Laura-Leigh), whose previous trauma has left her in a state of arrested growth, full with a stuffed animal and a behavior of sucking her thumb.
Supervising the women is Dr. Stringer (Jared Harris), whose remedy strategies embody hypnotherapy, electroshock remedy, and extra excessive measures that escalate because the movie strikes into its second and third acts.
Kristen struggles together with her captivity whereas sustaining her innocence. She doesn’t know why she burned down the farmhouse, and she will be able to’t recall a lot about her life earlier than the incident. But that’s solely a part of her downside in The Ward. One by one, beginning with Iris, the women are killed off in more and more brutal vogue, and so they start to imagine they’re being hunted by the ghost of a former affected person named Alice Hudson (Mika Boorem).
Kristen learns that earlier than she arrived, the opposite sufferers murdered Alice (portrayed by Sydney Sweeney in flashbacks in considered one of her earliest roles) due to her violent tendencies, claiming nobody would hearken to their issues. With nobody believing she’s sane, Kristen should both escape the hospital or face the entity that’s been haunting her since she arrived.
Been There, Done That
As a John Carpenter movie, The Ward is an underwhelming effort. Knowing what he’s able to when he’s absolutely in his component, it’s onerous to reconcile this together with his classics. This is the place you may count on me to throw writers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen below the bus for a lackluster screenplay, however I’m not going to try this. It’s by-product and painfully normal, certain, but it surely was at all times aiming to be that form of psychological thriller.
This is a low-budget, not-quite B-movie effort, and it carries that form of attraction. As a movie from two writers I don’t have a lot historical past with, it really works properly sufficient as a simple style piece that I’d suggest to informal viewers.
My disappointment largely comes from Carpenter himself. He’s at all times been identified for subverting expectations and bending style guidelines, however that simply isn’t taking place right here. It appears like he confirmed up, did the directing job, and moved on. There’s nothing inherently incorrect with that, but it surely retains The Ward from being something near iconic, and nearer to forgettable.
The Ward is a stable, dependable psychological thriller that has some enjoyable with its premise. It works as an entry level for those who’re not burned out on the style, however for those who’ve seen all of it earlier than, this one won’t do a lot for you.
As of this writing, The Ward is streaming without spending a dime on Tubi.
