The Ward Begins a Bit Like a Lifetime Movie of the Week
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As The Ward progresses it becomes more and more John Carpenter at his best, ending with a bang that reminds us why he’s a master of horror.
Written by The Horror Czar, Don Sumner
July 1, 2011
Movie Trailer
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Release: June 8, 2011 (VOD) July 8, 2011 (U.S. Theatrical)
Directed by: John Carpenter
Written by: Michael Rasmussen
Starring:
Amber Heard as Kristen
Mamie Gummer as Emily
Danielle Panabaker as Sarah
Laura-Leigh as Zoey
Lyndsy Fonseca as Iris
Jared Harris as Dr. Stringer
Sydney Sweeney as Young Alice
Kristen (Amber Heard) is a bit of a whack job, found by men in white coats after setting fire to an old farm house and falling to her knees to watch the flames. The white coats deliver Kristen to a very strange department within a mental institution, “The Ward”. It isn’t explained what is so special about the ward vs. the rest of the facility, but there are only a handful of girls there who seem to require special attention, including mean Emily (Mamie Gummer), whacky Sarah (Danielle Panabaker), timid Zoey (Laura-Leigh) and practical “I’m about to get out of here” Iris (Lyndsy Fonseca). Each of them has their own “room” which consists of a cell containing a cot, table, chair and barred window.
As Kristen is led to her room the stern nurse uses her sleeve to wipe the name of the former resident of that room from a board outside the door. It seems that the previous occupant “Tammy” was attacked and killed by a mysterious villain the night before, but nobody tells Kristen that. She wouldn’t have listened anyway as she has no intention of staying put. Ever the escape artist, Kristin continually tries to find a means of exit, all the while dodging a dark specter who is intent on picking the patients off one by one.
The Ward starts nice and slick, shot beautifully with a theorized $10MIL budget. So slick, in fact, that this film could have been just about anything from a mega-budget multinational “feel good” movie to a Lifetime network movie of the week. For those of you who do not remember the now-failed Lifetime network, it was “television for women” and often featured the likes of Judith Light (Who’s the Boss television program) and Lindsey Wagoner (The Bionic Woman from the 70s) in roles about women overcoming extreme abuse from oafish men, and each of these films was built from the beginning to elicit tears from the audience as the women emerged from either triumph or tragedy. Anyway, they all pretty much started the same way, with slick visuals that seemed almost too pristine and planned. So does The Ward during the opening segments.
As the film progresses, however, the strength of the
characters and
situation takes over and completely drew me in. The build-up of
suspense, danger and intrigue is steady and strong, as it the
increasing
frequency of the dark specter’s appearance and violence.
There are many things that don’t quite add up, don’t quite make sense,
but before you can focus your brain on complaining about them the
vicious ghost appears yet again with another horrifying kill on her
mind. The character are all played to perfection by the cast as well –
Carpenter has an uncanny skill at casting the right folks (assuming he
was involved in casting, of course. If he wasn’t then whoever was did a
bang up job here).
John Carpenter is, of course, a genius and horror master… of that there is no doubt. The overall experience of The Ward demonstrates that fact yet again, in spite of its dubious beginnings. I have a theory about that, based on the impact of Carpenter films over time. It is as if John Carpenter doesn’t know exactly what to do with a lot of budget. Many of his best films, including Halloween, The Fog, The Thing and the brilliant Masters of Horror segment Cigarette Burns were done, while not necessarily “on the cheap”, for less budget than the studio features of the day. John Carpenter has a knack for telling a story in a terrifying and compelling way while making something out of near nothing. The Ward feels as if he was a bit overwhelmed with the choices at his disposal with $10MIL to play with as the film began, but quickly his inherent brilliance took over the money-lust and he finished the film the John Carpenter way.
Expectations of John Carpenter are extremely high when it comes to horror, and rightly so as he is responsible for several of the ultimate classic horror films in existence. That can inspire, as it did for me, a negative reaction to a Carpenter film that appears on its face to be too “studio”. In the end, though, even a studio appearance cannot dim the talent of this master of horror, and The Ward is an example. This one may not make it to the classic status of his earlier work, but it is certainly a strong addition.
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