'The Ward' a vastly disappointing effort from former master

Director: John Carpenter

Cast: Amber Heard, Jared Harris, Danielle Panabaker

Cert: 16

Either Carpenter has lost his touch or simply couldn’t be bothered to put much thought into his films … or, since he was once the King of Horror, both.

Both seems right when watching this vastly disappointing effort since none of the characters have been given any depth nor a strong enough script to work with. It is, simply, a cobbling together of all those left-over bits from hundreds of other slasher films.

Set in the 1960s in your stereotypical mental institute to which Kristren (Heard) has been banished after burning down a farmhouse and conveniently forgetting her past. And there is seemingly kindly Dr Stringer (Harris) to look after her as she and the other patients seem to be in mortal danger from a ghastly ghost.

The rest is what we now expect it to be … mostly forgettable, with daft twists and a climax you just simply don’t believe.

Star Rating: 1/5