John Carpenter's The Ward (2010)
Kristen (Amber Heard) finds herself committed after setting fire to an abandoned farmhouse. Once there she becomes friends with the other girls as she comes to realize things are not as they seem and a gruesome ghostly figure stalks the ward at night.
Before i go on i should say i wanted to like this film. It is John Carpenter after all. Also i was pleasantly surprised as i thought it was a found footage film and happily it isn't.
The Ward is an interesting mystery, a slow burning story which gradually escalates, drawing the viewer in as both we and Heard's Kristen character try and figure out the reasons for her being hospitalized in the first place. Carpenter allows the suspense to come to the fore through the story telling as the film gradually flips from mystery to ghost story. The film is nicely acted with characters to sympathise with and tries to avoid the typical genre cliches of bullying wardens and such like. The soundtrack, although often subtle and low in the mix, (thankfully Carpenter doesn't resort to musical jump scares), has echoes of Goblin's Suspiria score. There is little gore, but what there is is gruesome, and one sequence is definitely not for the squeamish in it's eye opening nastiness.
The films only real let down for me was the extremely rushed denouement. I have to admit i didn't see it coming but when you actually think about it, it makes the preceding 80 minutes a bit of a waste of time as it's difficult to say if it happened or it was all in Kristen's mind.
Whilst The Ward is nowhere near classic John Carpenter, (he hasn't a writing credit or responsible for the score), however one or two of his directorial flourishes can be found such as slow, creepy tracking shots which add to the ghostly feel of things.
Better than Escape from LA. The Ward is worth checking out as it's nowhere near as poor as you've probably heard. (cough)
Originally posted in The Cult Labs Members Review Club.
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