John Carpenter's "The Ward"

[g2kmaster]

After almost a decade of not making any movies, he did two short specials for the "Masters of Horror" series. Now, the man claimed to be "The Pornographer of Violence", "The Patron Saint of Science Fiction and Horror Cinema" and the man who wrote the book when it comes to slasher films (Halloween), showed that special effects do not need to be digital (The Thing), created the definitive social commentary film (They Live), and predated films like "Angels and Demons" and "The Da Vinci Code" ("Prince of Darkness"), John Carpenter is back with his newest film, "The Ward".

From the official site:
"1966. Night. As a storm approaches the North Bend Psychiatric Hosputal, something unseen walks the halls of the isolation war. it closes in on a small bare room of a distressed young woman. As the storm peaks and the lighting strikes outside the young girl SCREAMS in terror.

As dawn breaks the next day, another young woman, KRISTEN, disheveled and disoriented, sets fire to an abandoned farmhouse. Captured by the local police, she is remanded to North Bend where she is processed and taken to the isolation ward - the same place we have just witnessed the other young woman terrified beyond words.

In the ward, Kristen meets the other patients: ZOOEY, childlike and withdrawn; IRIS, artistic, prin and proper; flirtatecous SARAH, and the group's free spirit EMILY. A private ession with DR. STRINGER, the chief psychiatrist reveals that Kristen can't remember anything before her arrival at the hospital. That night she attempts to escape but is caught by an orderly. When she awakens later, she sees a figure peering in at her through the mesh window in her door. When she tries to talk to anyone about the figure walking the halls, they turn away - a conspiracy of silence.

When Kristen is unsure how she got there or why, she is certain that Ward has a dark secret at its core that freezes the girls into silence and she's determined to get out - even if it's alone. The other girls talk about patience who got out or left previously. Kristen finds clues to the existence of Alice and Tammy. But nobody will say what happened to them or where they went. And when Kristen is attacked in the shower by the same ghostly figure she saw earlier, she knows the others didn't leave the Ward alive."

Well, after typing that out (it won't let me cut and paste), I am happy to say that the plot is defiently that as if JU-ON took place in a phych ward. Here is the official site. The fog is a bit burdeneous, but the mouse will help with that.

http://thewardmovie.com/

So, anyone excited about this film? While I was most excited for Machete this year, this film takes the cake. As I said earlier, John Carpenter is my favorite director of all time and there were only two films of his I didn't care for - GHOST OF MARS and MEMORIS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN. This ought to be awesome. Back to low budget, no-name casts that make really good cinema because of his direction. Sure, he doesn't have his partner Dean Cundy (who would go on to do bigger and better stuff) and his great script supervisor Deborah Hill is gone (Sandy gets the job done though) and Cody Carpenter may or may not be replacing his dad as the score-er (I mean, John is ok, but his soundtracks with Allan Howarth are excelent).

[Hellspawn28]

JC has not made a good movie in years, I hope this movie will bring him back to his roots.

[baragon123]

Its about time he came back. Can't wait for this one.

[Hellspawn28]

It been 14 years since the Last Escape movie, and I wish they made a 3rd one.

[g2kmaster]

Too bad Kurt is most probrably not able to make it. I mean, he looked good in Death Proof but when you watch him w/o the make up in the little interviews on the Death Proof DVD, he kind of looks like his age is taking it's toll.

And c'mon, there needs to be more people who are a fan of John's work here... 3 replies?

[g2kmaster]

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While not the best of music videos, it is a bad ass song IMO and I have always liked it. Better than most videos today in which it is belived that it is only good if it has complex dance coreography. Though I cannot say the same about some of the other songs on the Coup De Ville's "Waiting out the Eighties" album (which was a private album that was leaked onto the internet). But eh, it is a good music video and I like it alot.

[Hellspawn28]

Carpenter has not been goood since the early 90's. Ghost of Mars pretty much almost ended his movie career.

Too bad Kurt is most probrably not able to make it. I mean, he looked good in Death Proof but when you watch him w/o the make up in the little interviews on the Death Proof DVD, he kind of looks like his age is taking it's toll.

That did not stop them making Die Hard 4, Indy 4, Rambo 4, and Rocky 6? I think a 3rd Snake movie can work, and they can scrap the whole Escape from Earth idea for the 3rd movie.

[g2kmaster]

Well yeah, except that all of those films pale in comparison to their earlier entries with maybe the exception of Rambo. I would just rather not have them do another film unless someone who knows on a technical level how Carpenter did things back in the glory days does it. I would rather have Carpenter try to make a director's cut of Escape from LA.

And I agree with the Prince of Darkness comments. Dennis Dun's character is not the best at comedic relief but eh, still my favorite of Carpenter's films.

In the Mouth of Madness FTW though... that and Vampires are his best 1990's films. Pretty good.

[Tyler]

I hear Carpenter's episodes of Masters of Horror are pretty good. Maybe that spirit will go into his new film. I haven't seen all his movies but They Live is my favourite.

[g2kmaster]

I hear Carpenter's episodes of Masters of Horror are pretty good. Maybe that spirit will go into his new film. I haven't seen all his movies but They Live is my favourite.

Cigarette Burns, yeah. It's like IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS only instead of books it is a rare film. Pro-Life has some nice SFX and acting, but just think about it as "The Thing" with social commentary reguarding abortion.