Oh dear, I rented this film with high hopes of a return to form from John Carpenter - the director who brought us Halloween (the 1978 version not the turgid Rob Zombie re-hash) and The Thing (1980). Unfortunately, whilst being nowhere near as excruciating as 2001's Ghosts of Mars and the frankly ridiculous bilge that was Escape From LA, his latest offering 'The Ward' still falls considerably short of the benchmark of his earlier films. The film borrows heavily from other genre thrillers such as Shutter Island and Identity whilst failing to capture the creepy, dread-laden atmosphere that made these films a relative success at the box office. At times 'The Ward' is reminiscent of an unusually long live-action episode of Scooby Doo (albeit one with a little more blood, no dog and less snacks.....) The acting and script leave a lot to be desired and there is an over-reliance on cheap 'jump' scares in place of genuine frights. For some reason the film appears to have been released in the UK way before it's debut in American theatres which makes me wonder if the producer is struggling to find a distributor on it's home turf.
Better luck next time Mr Carpenter.
Better luck next time Mr Carpenter.