The Ward (2010) 7/10

Starring : Amber Heard, Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Jared Harris
Director : John Carpenter
Running Time : 93 mins

It’s 1966, and runaway arsonist Kristen (Heard) is committed to the North Bend Psychiatric Hospital when she is caught by the police burning down a farmhouse. As she gets to know some of her fellow patients, she starts to notice that some of them have gone missing under the pretence that they have been released, and she becomes haunted by a mysterious spirit.

This is one of those movies that tries to be clever, but the only part of the movie that is clever is the resolution. Nothing in the movie really gives much of a lead in to the twist at the end, but thankfully the horror element is more than enough to keep this entertaining. This isn’t a typical Carpenter horror – in fact, in many ways, it is one of his better efforts in recent years.

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