User reviews

Why this has a poor average review i have no clue. Keep reading to find out why this is actually way better than its rating.

Acting: The cast and performances are great. Amber heard does awesome in her role, is easy to root for and has a fun leadership charisma to her. All the other girls are different and unique in their own way. The doctor is very mysterious and you can't tell whether he's a good guy or not.

Story: I have no clue why people are saying "this story has been done before". Well ive never seen it before and even if I did I couldnt imagine a similar plot better done than this. The story is interesting, mysterious and has a good cast to keep you intrigued. There is a tense nature to it and you feel like the clock is ticking the whole time not knowing when "the ghost" will strike next. Its mysterious and exciting the whole time, the jump scares and ghost is actually really creepy. The end was really awesome and something I didn't see coming. The lasting impression of the film is still very much haunting with the children singing in the credits.

Summary: A absolutely great and underrated film. Dont believe the other reviewers, i thoroughly enjoyed this and would highly reccomend it.

I just finished this movie right now and I must say... This is another fantastic job done by John Carpenter. This movie was very interesting and entertaining at the same time which I don't find much. This is a movie that you really have to pay a lot of attention while watching to understand the full story. I thought I knew what was coming in the movie but after a while I realized I had no idea whatsoever which I also enjoyed. This wasn't exactly scary but it was very good nonetheless. I would recommend watching this but you need to pay attention. I did like this movie and would possibly purchase it. I give The Ward a 8 out of 10.

~Joe

I had no idea John Carpenter made this. No idea! Certainly not at the time of its release. 2010. I don't even remember hearing anything about this movie whatsoever.

While watching this for the very first time, some things were apparent and obvious and other things prompted questions.

Apparent and obvious: This cast is full of hot babes.

Hot babes are usually crazy (kidding) Danielle Panabaker. Me likee. And apparently I've seen some of her work but she's never registered with me before. Here, she does.

Amber Heard. She is so beautiful and so talented. This is a year before The Rum Diaries and where I remember first noticing her myself, in Drive Angry. I hope that she will resume her work in Hollywood. There is much to be done. The right part. The right movie. And she will set the screen on fire again.

Which leads to questions. I have a few.

Since when does torching an abandoned house automatically land you in a psychiatric ward?

How was she placed there? Who authorized it? Where are her people?

I know it's 1966 in the movie, but what's with all the freedoms and free range at this facility?

And why is it in movies that people with piddly type tasks take on such death defying actions while they're on the clock? Like the orderlies in this ward? Why are they risking life and limb for what is otherwise probably not really worth it, not to mention their personal involvement and anger. Like, really, dude?

But all these things aside, I really liked this movie. I enjoyed the performances and the story.

The ending, well, you've seen it before or something close to it, but it's still good here. This is still a decent Halloween watch.

It is the master of horror, after all.

Out of John Carpenter's filmography, I've seen this movie many times compared to popular Halloween (1978) and The Thing (1982). It may be underrated or not very popular yet don't care.

Another movie with great cast with majority of them are young females.

Lead role is Amber Heard as Kristen, the beautiful but troubled young woman with some amnesia and turns lead protagonist with control in escaping the ward no matter what. Many don't like Amber Heard with her history over Johnny Depp.

Kristen is transferred into a section of a psychiatric hospital with same name as movie where she meets majority the rest of cast.

Mamie Gummer as Emily, the one who acts wild and free spirited, and annoys the other patients including earsplitting singing and irritating scares.

Danielle Panabaker (seen in Friday the 13th reboot, Piranha 3DD & The Crazies remake) as Sarah, the beautiful yet vain seductress, puts down the others through her snobbish disposition Laura Leigh as Zoey, the childlike timid one who carries a toy rabbit with her, and she seems outcast of the group.

Lyndsy Fonseca as Iris, the friendly artist whose habit of drawing everyone she sees.

There's Mika Boorem (young counterpart of Charlize Theron in gorilla movie Mighty Joe Young) as Alice Hudson, the former inmate who mysteriously disappeared, yet her ghost haunts the remaining patients Jared Harris as the Dr. Stringer, the girls' psychiatrist and therapist, yet he's hiding secrets

Interesting mystery storyline as to who the ghost is and a former patient named Alice Hudson and what happened to her and what the other girls know about it. Setting of it at a eerie dark psychiatric hospital makes it truly frightening.

Kills in it are average: one of the girls Sarah gets strapped and fried with electroshock machine, one Emily with bloody throat slitting with a scalpel just as she first attempts to top herself, and I question young girl Zoey got killed off-screen which I've keen to know as she was last seen in service lift thing and then Kristen sees a blood trial.

This was a good movie. Definitely worth watching if you like thrillers. No, its not Halloween and it isnt an infamous classic as that, few movies are. But it was still really well done, the acting was great and the story was interesting and keeps your attention.

John Carpenter's The Ward isn't a particularly remarkable film, and it's certainly not a very scary one, but there are aspects that I really enjoyed, one of which being the excellent original score, which Carpenter actually didn't compose himself, for once. The film gets off to a great eerie start with opening credits that are the most evocative sequence of the whole thing, leading into the tale of one seriously disturbed chick (Amber Heard) who finds herself in a whacko mental institution, plagued by the ghost of a restless former patient. A befuddled Doctor (Jared Harris) knows more than he let's on, of course, and her fellow patients are similarly tormented by the phantom. Here's the thing: it's well plotted, acted and executed, save for one thing: it's never scary. Not once do the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention, and a horror film should have that. I loved the psychological sudoku of an ending, but even there there was no creep factor to be found. Her fellow patients all have parts to play, including Danielle Panabaker, Laura Leigh Claire, Mamie Gummer and a standout Mika Boorem who steals the show from Heard right in the final act. Works as a thriller, padded with atmosphere here and there, but could have done with a better dose of chills to sweeten the deal.

I just recently re-watched this movie and was as impressed by it as I was when I first watched it years ago. I've never quite understood the low ratings that some critics have given it over the years and I suspect that this is one of those films that will, sooner or later, be re-appraised and everyone will be wondering why it was so underrated when it was first released.

That said, among the things that impress me the most about the movie are its jump-scares and, of course, its totally unforeseeable twist near the end. Although, unlike Carpenter's older classics, this movie is more aptly classified as a psychological thriller, it still succeeds, not unlike those older Carpenter classics, to successfully pack several jump-scares that seem to get me each and every single time. Plus, I'd rank that twist near its end as one of the best that I've seen in any Carpenter movie to date.

In addition, I was impressed by Carpenter's choice to cast Amber Heard in the leading role (as Kristen) because she single-handedly carries most of the weight of the movie's unrelenting grip right up to its very end. Indeed, it is because of Heard's convincing performance - which projects an unmistakable image of "strength-in-vulnerability" - that the viewer is incapable of pulling themselves away from the screen for the entire duration of the movie. And it is her skillful concealment of Kristen's mental vulnerability that makes the twist near the end so unforeseeable and so worth the wait. Arguably, this was Heard's best performance to date at the time of the making of the movie (although her performances in older film classics like All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, ExTerminators, and Remember the Daze are notable counter-arguments).

Carpenter's casting of Heard is also noteworthy for another important reason: That is, that unlike other directors at the time, he avoided sexually objectifying Heard's character. In other words, he avoided exploiting Heard's sexual appeal for entertainment and instead let the camera capture her talent for all its worth. And capture it it did. This is perhaps why Heard's performance in this movie, unlike in others before, comes across as actually Oscar-worthy; Carpenter gave her the space to show it all and show it all she does. In line with this and more generally, I love the way Carpenter never sexually exploited any of the female performers in the movie. This, no doubt, is a commendable feat given how normalized the sexual exploitation of female performers in Hollywood, especially within the horror genre, is. Because of this and because of the majority of the main cast in the movie being women, I give the movie some added points for its relatively fair gender representation (considering that most of the non-cast crew are men).

Despite the afore-discussed positives however, I was unimpressed by the poor racial representation in the movie and some hints of homophobia (albeit arguable ones) here and there in it. I was also unimpressed by the paternalistic power - implausibly made to seem benevolent and just - that White male characters are given in the movie.

In conclusion, I would have given the movie a 7 overall after considering its pros and cons but I give it an 8 for that extra edge that Amber Heard's acting gives to it. And, I definitely recommend it to all John Carpenter fans and enthusiasts as well as to fans of horror and psychological thrillers generally. I also recommend it to the growing fanbase of Amber Heard as a great display of what she could do when directors focus more on her and her talent than solely or mainly on her looks.

The Ward is a few years old now, but is legendary writer/director/producer/composer/actor John Carpenter's most recent theatrical offering. Much like Carpenter's criminally underrated and much under-appreciated previous film Ghosts Of Mars, it has a strong and drop dead gorgeous female lead. Amber Heard is very easy on the eyes indeed, but is a very talented actress in her own right and does an excellent job as the lead in this feature. She is a very troubled, but beautiful young lady in a psychiatric ward. While the the cast is populated with hot women, they also can act. The story is set in the 1960's and the ensemble cast of gorgeous, insane women tell their tales in this psychological horror film with supernatural elements. The film is a classy, suspenseful horror film that is well acted, shot and scored. The score is not done by John, but still is very good and builds ambiance, dread and suspense. The son of the legendary Richard Harris, Jared Harris is the doctor in this film and is quite an accomplished actor in his own right. He gives an amazing performance and would make his father proud. There is a plot twist that I will not reveal here and it is always a pleasure to watch John Carpenter's films and The Ward is solid and well made.

I have to admit that I am a Carpenter fan since the eighties. As I was not expecting much after "ghosts of Mars", I was happily surprised when seeing "the Ward". The timing is somewhere in the early sixties and setting of the "hospital" is having a nicely cold and dark atmosphere. The music score was not having the typical Carpenter sound, but that does not mean that it was not good. It was actually quite good and seems to fit exactly in this film. Amber Heard and Mamie Gummer both did a very good job, and were really convincing as patients lost in a place they should not be in, and looking for a way to get out of the Ward.

I have read other reviews before, and noticed that some reviewers complained that the twist at the end has been seen before in another movie. That lowered my expectations, and now that I have seen the movie I know they were so wrong. If a story or twist should be completely original then we would end up with only a handful of new movies per year. So that is not realistic. What counts for me is if a movie can keep me on the edge of my seat and is entertaining from beginning to end. Well, this worked perfectly for me and I was captured as of the first seconds until the last minute.

Regarding the twist: yes, I have seen a similar twists before....but (and that is the main thing ) ...when watching this movie, I did not see it coming. We have watched this movie with 5 persons and we were all caught by surprise. And that means that the story and events leading to the surprising end were absolutely very well executed.

As as summary: above average acting, good setting, nice supporting music score and above average directing ( both photography and story telling parts ). So, for me, a successful comeback. John Carpenter, we salute you.

I watched The Ward being a horror movie fan and because of the fact that Amber Heard plays a title roll.

The story: Kristen is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where she will stay among several other young women. The hospital is situated in a large, old building, contributing to a dark atmosphere. Soon after her admission, plans are being made to make an attempt to escape the detention in the institution, along with the other girls. On various moments, a ghost appears to the girls, which seems to haunt them.

I watched the movie with mixed expectations. I thought it would be entertaining, since I love horror/thriller movies and I think Amber Heard is a competent actress. On the other hand, the IMDb vote was rather low. But I was pleasantly surprised. I have no comments on the acting. It's solid. You can really sympathize with the women to find a way out of the imprisonment. There are multiple moments of thrills, without becoming repulsive/very bloody. The ending is probably unpredictable, however I had read some other IMDb reviews, where this movie was compared to an other movie I had already seen. That gave me a clue what the twist would be about, and I was right.

My advise would be: this movie is definitely worth a watch, and don't read too much other reviews, because you wouldn't want to see the major twist coming, just like I did.

"The Ward" had some expectations to live up to, being a John Carpenter movie and all. And boy did it deliver and live up to those expectations. This is definitely one of the better horror movies I have seen in a long time.

The storyline in this movie is amazing, you are thrown into the midst of the movie right away and given no chance to fend for yourself. You just have to take it all in and try to make sense of the weird happenings that take place in the ward. And the storyline worked out so well. Especially because when you think you got it figured out, the storyline changes and takes you in a whole new direction. I thought I had the movie figured out twice, but it changed and took me for a new ride both times. I loved that part about the movie, because you were kept in suspense and in the dark, trying to guess what's going on. And the ending was really satisfying, especially when you find out what really is going on.

Now, the five girls in the movie really did good jobs with their roles. And they really brought the movie and story to life on the screen. Had their performances been bad, the movie would have suffered horribly. So thankfully they had good talents on the sets. Thumbs up to Amber Heard (playing Kristen), Mamie Gummer (playing Emily), Danielle Panabaker (playing Sarah), Laura-Leigh (playing Zoey) and Lyndsy Fonseca (playing Iris). However, also to help carry the movie a good way was Jared Harris (playing Dr. Stringer).

The setting in "The Ward" was amazing. I loved the feel that they had brought to the institution and the ward. There were lots of good details and it was like you were there yourself. And the effects in the movie were good as well. There isn't a flashy show of million dollar-in-your-face-effects show off. The effects were fairly simple, adequate, but straight to the point.

Being a horror movie, and being a Carpenter movie, you are in for a bunch of shocks as well. And true enough, "The Ward" has a good handful of scenes that will have you jump in shock, fear and dread. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful...

If you like horror movies, then you most definitely have to check out "The Ward", because it has a solid story, it is well acted and it should be watched in the dark and with the volume cranked up! Trust me.

Praise to John Carpenter for this wonderful contribution to the horror genre.