The Ward (2010)

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Director John Carpenter's last helming effort (as of this writing) is a contradiction in terms- hurried yet sluggish, with jump scares tossed in where genuine suspense and fright could have been generated.

It's 1966, and runaway Kristen (Amber Heard) has just set fire to an isolated farmhouse and is checked into a mental institution under the care of Dr. Stringer (Jared Harris). She's locked into a ward with other troubled girls, and they're overseen by Ratched-type Nurse Lundt (a menacing Susanna Burney) and strong-arm Roy (D.R. Anderson). Strangeness starts as the young women are being haunted by the ghost of a former patient- or are they reacting to Stringer's radical new therapy and the handfuls of pills being fed to them by Lundt? The patients keep secrets from Kristen and each other, and slowly begin "getting discharged."

John Carpenter was one of my favorite directors, but I avoided this film for years. I wanted to be Carpenter when I was preparing to become a film maker, and two of his films ("Halloween" and "The Thing") are on my Top 10 Favorite Films of All Time list. I didn't want to believe that he was done with film making, although he is enjoying a welcome second career with his music and film scoring.

I usually ignore the oxmoronic "entertainment reporting," and work on concentrating on actual films. I try to separate the actors from their politics and personal scandals, so despite knowing the bare minimum about Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, I didn't care. Heard is good in the film, saddled with a sometimes questionable story and a character with zero background and no clues forthcoming. I like Harris in pretty much everything, and he doesn't disappoint here. While the viewer is tossed into the proceedings right away, the film gets bogged down into a routine. Kristen and the other girls in the ward don't generate enough curiosity to care about their predicament. I knew something nefarious was going on, but after the figure of the ghost made its sixth or seventh jump scare, I found it difficult to care and patiently waited for Kristen to kick her next failed escape attempt into motion.

This is a tight, short little thriller, but I wish Carpenter had added some of his skill that made his best films a "John Carpenter film." He made worse, and he made better. Also known as "John Carpenter's The Ward."

Stats:
(2010) 89 min. (* * 1/2) out of five stars
-Directed by John Carpenter
-Written by Michael Rasmussen & Shawn Rasmussen
-Cast: Amber Heard, Jared Harris, Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Laura-Leigh, Lyndsy Fonseca, Mika Boorem, Susanna Burney, D.R. Anderson, Sali Sayler, Sean Cook, Jillian Kramer, Mark Chamberlin, Andrea Petty
(R)- Physical violence, some violence involving children, gore, some profanity, mild sexual references, some adult situations, drug use