The Ward

Director: John Carpenter
Writers: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
Stars: Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer, Jared Harris

After being arrested for burning down a farmhouse for reasons unknown a troubled girl named Kristen is placed into a ward at North Bend psychiatric hospital.  Possessing no memories of her life prior to setting the fire Kristen begins treatment under the supervision of Dr. Stringer, the physician responsible for treating the other handful of girls residing in the ward.  Soon after her arrival Kristen begins to sense something isn’t right as she encounters what appears to be the ghost of another young girl.  Seeking answers from Doctor Stringer as well as the other girls Kristen is convinced her life is in danger and knows she must escape before it’s too late.

This is one of those straight to DVD movies I stumbled upon within the Netflix new release selections.  When I saw that it was directed by John Carpenter I had hoped that this movie would have some of the old JC magic seen in many of his earlier films such as The Thing, Escape from New York, Prince of Darkness, etc.  Unfortunately this wasn’t the case this movie was a bore.  The only noticeable JC trademarks are the occasional theme music which is very brief and can barely be heard along with some lighting techniques that didn’t seem to succeed in accomplishing any set tasks.  Unfortunately it feels like John Carpenter’s better days are far behind him.  In JC’s defense (not that he needs me to defend him) I will say it’s nearly impossible to create something when you have nothing to work with. 

So with that said I patiently waited two hours for anything that would provide a quick scare, a moment of shock, suspense or even some off kilter humor  but it quickly became apparent that this was not to be found.  Failing greatly to deliver anything that would resemble a horror movie is lost in the generic pages of this meek and timid script.  

The cast all seemed to fall into the generic model of actors who dial in their performances.  There wasn’t a believable emotion that made me feel like something horrible or chilling was about to happen.  Watching the actors go through the motions was almost as boring as sitting through the beginning credits while I was finishing up another task before the movie started.

I can’t even recommend watching this movie if it ever made it onto late night television.  Undoubtedly there would have to be something better to watch than two hours of this dribble.

Rating: 1 Reel