Sydney Sweeney Antagonizes Amber Heard In John Carpenter’s Forgotten Thriller
By Robert Scucci
| Updated
2010’s The Ward (or John Carpenter’s The Ward) is such a tricky movie to speak about as a result of it is a run-of-the-mill psychological horror flick. It’s not horrible, simply extremely spinoff. Think 2003’s Identity meets 2005’s The Jacketeach of which value round $30 million to supply, however with solely $10 million to drag it off.
The Ward leans into its limitations properly, and it is a enjoyable technique to spend 89 minutes, nevertheless it’s additionally from the man who introduced us Dark Star, halloween, The Thingand They Live. In that context, it nearly makes me glad Carpenter is now in his side-quest period, popping up on Gunship albums and narrating retrofuturistic dystopias over ripping synth traces.
Amber Heard Is An Unreliable Witness. There’s A Joke Here Somewhere.
Set nearly fully in a psychiatric hospital, The Ward facilities on Amber Heard’s Kristen, who’s locked up after burning down a farmhouse for no clear cause. There, she meets a gaggle of troubled younger ladies, together with the freewheeling and impulsive Emily (Mamie Gummer) and the flirtatious imply woman Sarah (Danielle Panabaker). Rounding out the group are Iris (Lyndsy Fonseca), a inventive sort with a creative streak, and Zoey (Laura-Leigh), whose previous trauma has left her in a state of arrested growth, full with a stuffed animal and a behavior of sucking her thumb.
Supervising the ladies is Dr. Stringer (Jared Harris), whose remedy strategies embrace hypnotherapy, electroshock remedy, and extra excessive measures that escalate because the movie strikes into its second and third acts.
Kristen struggles together with her captivity whereas sustaining her innocence. She would not know why she burned down the farmhouse, and she will be able to’t keep in mind a lot about her life earlier than the incident. But that is solely a part of her drawback in The Ward. One by one, beginning with Iris, the ladies are killed off in more and more brutal trend, and so they start to imagine they’re being hunted by the ghost of a former affected person named Alice Hudson (Mika Boorem).
Kristen learns that earlier than she arrived, the opposite sufferers murdered Alice (portrayed by Sydney Sweeney in flashbacks in considered one of her earliest roles) due to her violent tendencies, claiming nobody would hearken to their considerations. With nobody believing she’s wholesome, Kristen should both escape the hospital or face the entity that is been haunting her since she arrived.
Been There, Done That
As a John Carpenter movie, The Ward is an underwhelming effort. Knowing what he is able to when he is absolutely in his aspect, it is exhausting to reconcile this along with his classics. This is the place you would possibly anticipate me to throw writers Michael and Shawn Rasmussen underneath the bus for a lackluster screenplay, however I’m not going to try this. It’s spinoff and painfully customary, certain, nevertheless it was all the time aiming to be that sort of psychological thriller.
This is a low-budget, not-quite B-movie effort, and it carries that sort of appeal. As a movie from two writers I haven’t got a lot historical past with, it really works properly sufficient as a easy style piece that I’d suggest to informal viewers.
My principally disappointment comes from Carpenter himself. He’s all the time been identified for subverting expectations and bending style guidelines, however that simply is not occurring right here. It looks like he confirmed up, did the directing job, and moved on. There’s nothing inherently flawed with that, nevertheless it retains The Ward from being something near iconic, and nearer to forgettable.
The Ward is a stable, dependable psychological thriller that has some enjoyable with its premise. It works as an entry level should you’re not burned out on the style, however should you’ve seen all of it earlier than, this one may not do a lot for you.
As of penning this, The Ward is streaming free of charge on Tubi.
