A young attractive girl named Kristen is institutionalised after burning down a house for unknown reasons. When she becomes acquainted with the patients and staff workers she starts to sense that something ominous is afoot. This feeling is emboldened when she starts having visions of a ghost which is not only terrorizing her but the rest if the patients also. Fearing for her life and the lives of the others, she hatches a desperate plan to escape the institution. That will prove easier said than done however.

Well this is the John Carpenter movie i've been waiting to see for ages. Being a long time fan of Carpenter's I was really hoping that this movie would mark a return to form for the longtime incognito director. Well... Sadly, The Ward is not up to scratch with movies like They Live and Halloween. Though in and of itself, it's not that bad.

One thing i really want to say about The Ward is just how much it reminded me of Shutter Island. If you watch the two movies back to back you'll see what i mean. Whilst this is by no means a terminal issue for The Ward, it deflated my enthusiasm and respect for the movie somewhat.

The general acting quality is first class, the main actress Amber Heard is brilliant as the confused and frustrated protagonist Kristen. The rest of the cast are superb also. I would pay particular kudos to Jared Harris as Dr. Stringer, Kristen's psychologist. We're never really sure what his charcter's game is, though it all becomes clear in the end.

Gore wise things are pretty light, there are some decent-ish scenes to be found but there's really nothing that'll WOW ya. Nor is The Ward really that scary to be frank, it's creepy yeah but that's about it. The movie is built around intrigue and has a substantial plot twist at the end, which if you've seen Shutter Island you'll likely have see coming a mile off.

To conclude The Ward isn't really a bad movie, it's just not that great. It's not what I would expect from John Carpenter. So yeah I am a bit disappointed but heck I'd say the Ward is a better movie than Ghosts of Mars (though, that ain't saying much). So here's hoping the next Carpenter outing will be better. This one is quasi-recommended.