The Ward
2010 · United States · 89 min
- Director
- John Carpenter
- Screenplay
- Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
- Producer
- Doug Mankoff
- Music
- Mark Kilian
- Cinematography
- Yaron Orbach
Cast
What it is about
Kristen, a troubled young woman with no memory of her past, wakes up in 1966 in a ward of a psychiatric hospital in Oregon. She shares the room with other girls who offer her few answers, and as she tries to work out where she is and why she is there, she senses the place is hiding something. Strange noises come through the night, and some of the girls begin to vanish, leaving her to find a way out before she becomes the next one.
How it was made
The project marked John Carpenter's return to directing after almost a decade away from feature films, since Ghosts of Mars (2001). He admitted he had lost some enthusiasm for cinematic storytelling, but the script by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen arrived, in his words, at the right moment, and he was drawn to the idea of a story confined to a single location. Filming took place in Spokane and at the Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, Washington, a psychiatric facility still operating during production, so the crew was fenced in to keep patients from interfering. Mark Kilian composed the score, one of the few theatrical Carpenter films he did not score himself. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010.
Reception and legacy
Critics mostly reviewed the film negatively, while audiences on rating sites were somewhat kinder, though scores stayed modest across the board. Its US release in July 2011 was limited and understated. Today it is remembered chiefly as Carpenter's final feature as director, closing a career that includes genre landmarks such as Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980), The Thing (1982) and Vampires (1998).
Stills
Trailer
Clicking loads the video from YouTube (privacy-enhanced mode). Open on YouTube
Trivia
A working hospital
Filming took place at the Eastern State Hospital, a psychiatric facility still in operation, and the crew was fenced in to keep patients from interfering.
A score by someone else
Mark Kilian composed the music, which is unusual for Carpenter, who scored only a handful of his theatrical features in which he did not write the music himself.
More films by John Carpenter
Halloween
The Thing
Escape from New York
They Live
Christine
Big Trouble in Little ChinaOriginal Cinematopedia text based on Wikipedia (es) and Wikipedia (en) and Wikidata.