Preview: The Ward

The somewhat lazy poster

John Carpenter’s first feature since 2001’s extremely disappointing Ghost of Mars. However, as any horror fan will know Carpenter is still perfectly capable of making a decent feature (see the unforgettable Cigarette Burns & Pro-Life in Masters of Horror). The Ward follows a institutionalized young women, played by Amber Heard (Star of The Stepfather and the upcoming Drive Angry) who is being haunted by a malevolent ghost. She has no idea how she has come to be in this psychiatric hospital, all she knows is that she is in grave danger.

To be perfectly honest, there’s nothing overly original about the plot or even the crappy poster, however fans of the horror genre, will no doubt be excited that it’s a Carpenter film. Despite Carpenter’s decreasing quality in the 90s/00s  – it’s hard to forget that this man directed – Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, Escape from NY, Christine and In The Mouth Of Madness, which makes this project all the more exciting. Although, Carpenter did not write, produce or compose this, simply directed – which makes me feel like he just wanted to show people he’s still here.

The casting of the very likeable Amber Heard is a good choice, she has great potential to be the next big Scream Queen. And it will be interesting to see Jayden Harris as the sinister Dr. Stringer, before his next big screen feature, Sherlock Holmes 2.

Currently, the film has no US distributor, but us lucky people in the UK will be able to see it from January 21st 2011.