Saturday, November 2, 2019

Quick Reviews: John Carpenter's The Ward

As my final watch on Halloween, I looked back at Horror Master's final Film so far.  Did he redeem himself or just prove the doubters right?  Let's see...
A woman burns down an empty Farm House and ends up in the custody of the authorities.

Oh, is Arson a crime now or something?!?  Oh...right.
She ends up in a Psych Ward since, besides her crime, she also has no memory.

On the plus side, she's all set up to be a JRPG Protagonist.
Jared Harris is running the place, so we have our Brit In Charge quota filled.  He wants to help her, as well as the other girls in the Ward.

Did I just Roll Credits myself?  Dammit!
Unfortunately, the Staff and Patients aren't the only ones in, well, the place.  This one doesn't seem to friendly!
Can our Heroine and the other girls survive to see the light of day?
What mysteries and truths will be revealed before the end of it?

To find out, watch the Film.
It's actually...pretty good.  Right off the bat, there's two things missing that have to be addressed.  Carpenter had nothing to do with the Writing OR Scoring on this Film.  He jokes on the Audio Commentary that he was 'too damn old' to do the latter.  Aside from his Masters of Horror Episodes, he has official or unofficial Writing Credits for most of his notable Films.  It's interesting to see him give up a measure of control here in order to get a chance to prove himself again.  I think it works.  Is the Story super-unique?  No.  Is it well-made though?  Yes.  In lesser hands, this could definitely be like most direct-to-video dreck that comes in multi-film packs (of which I own at least a dozen or so).  Sadly, my copy is from one of those releases, so someone still thinks of it as such.  What the Film does well is utilize its Set, which is a real Sanitarium.  They apparently got permission to shoot in a working one, as opposed to an abandoned one like a Film I did earlier this year.  This really adds a nice layer of reality to a Film that seems to be about crazy people and a killer ghost.  The Acting is nicely-done here.  Some of the Characters don't get alot of depth, but there is a reason for that (which I won't SPOIL).  Even so, characters like Daniel Panabaker's get moments to show a different side and be more than one-dimensional.  I feel like if Carpenter had been motivated to do his usual level of input, this would have been really, really good.  The Soundtrack is alright, but fairly stock.  Carpenter laying down some sweet synth would have elevated this one for me.  All the same, The Ward is barely-remembered, but actually pretty decent at times and really good at others.  Come back to Direct for us again, Mr. Carpenter- we miss you.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I hear there is yet another Joker redesign to check out...
Carpenter isn't given A+ material here, but he definitely elevates it.  Maybe let him do another Halloween...

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