After a few bad films, including Ghosts of Mars and Vampires, I realized John Carpenter could churn out duds for the rest of his career, and I’d still love the man for his work. The Thing, Halloween, Big Trouble in Little China, Escape from New York, Starman, They Live, Christine, Assault and Precinct 13; how many directors have a filmography that impressive? The answer is not many. So, if his career continues to resemble movies like The Ward, the man will still be a legend in my book.
One of the biggest issues with his previous failures is that they lacked his voice, or felt like a director riffing on how they believed Carpenter would have handled the material. From budget cuts to production issues, Carpenter hasn’t had an easy time on his past few features, and it always showed on screen.
The Ward isn’t very good as well, but for a different reason. Carpenter’s stamp is here. His usual horror mood and atmosphere is present, and yet it all feels astonishingly ineffective. It’s not a film that suffers from “been there done that” syndrome, although it hits the beats you expect the film to. Everything is executed flatly as we follow Kristen (Amber Heard), a disturbed teen who ends up in a remote ward of a psychiatric hospital against her will.
This is a horror movie that doesn’t contain true horrors and doesn’t tread familiar ground competently. The ideas, scenes, setting, and antagonist are present to make for a strong midnight feature. The cast, mostly, is good and do what they have to. Heard proves to be more than a pretty face as the lead. The reliable Jared Harris, who plays the psych ward’s head doctor, brings a warmth to the role, rather than playing the archetypical evil doc.
Outside of Carpenter turning that convention on its head, nothing ever feels fresh or exciting. There’s an off-putting lifelessness to everything. The structure, the scares, and even the score simply goes through the motions. While engaging at times, during the film’s bombastic moments, the cheap banging and jump music is queued in, arresting anything promising that may have come. Through all the scares and intended frights, one feels like they’re constantly being nudged to be reminded how scary or fun it’s all supposed to be.
The Ward is a disappointment. Carpenter shows some spark that was seriously lacking in his previous efforts, but it’s not all there yet. Not a good nor a bad film, The Ward is stuck as a middle of the road horror movie. This certainly is a step up for Carpenter from his rough streak, and even after this so-so return, I still look forward to whatever the influential director does next.
The Ward is now available on VOD and hits limited theaters on July 8th.