The Ward

Play trailer

The Ward

R

Released Jul 8, 2011

1h 28m

Horror

Mystery & Thriller

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

33%

Tomatometer

72 Reviews

26%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

No one believes the claims of a young woman (Amber Heard) that a dead patient is stalking the residents of the psychiatric facility.

Watch on Peacock

Stream Now

Critics Consensus

Lacking the hallmarks of his best work, The Ward proves to be a disappointingly mundane swan song for director John Carpenter.

Read Critics Reviews

William Goss

Film.com

An aggressively plain spook story that favors jump moments over sustained tension and winds up falling back on a particularly tired twist.

Jul 11, 2011

Full Review

Scott Tobias

NPR

Carpenter has made his approximation of a cheap, twisty, shock-filled modern horror movie, and he has lost all but faint sighs of his minimalist swagger in the process.

Jul 8, 2011

Full Review

Joe Neumaier

New York Daily News

Carpenter's economical but mundane chiller is possessed more by previous ghoul-friend flicks than it is by his better work.

Rated: 1/5

Jul 8, 2011

Full Review

Brian Eggert

Deep Focus Review

A far cry from Carpenter’s glory days.

Rated: 2/4

Mar 11, 2023

Full Review

Shelagh Rowan-Legg

That Shelf

The problem with Carpenter is that...he is too good for this kind of material. No one has mastered it better than he has, and while he certainly doesn't "phone it in," so to speak, this kind of film doesn't present enough of a challenge for him.

May 15, 2018

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

MUBI

The result is a trim, scrubbed work, as strange and distilled as a mid-1930s Tod Browning chiller.

Dec 15, 2017

Full Review

Read all reviews

Horror fan 4

Definitely worth a look. The story kept me interested and the acting was good. I loved the characters. Tim Treakle

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/05/24

Full Review

Racheal

It’s about Kristen getting committed to a psychiatric unit and an angry spirit of a patient is haunting the girls who are being treated there all the girls there is all just Kristen she has multiple personality disorder (I believe that’s what you call it) I recommend it. It’s not scary though unfortunately

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/25/24

Full Review

Philip B

Trash! If I could give it a -1 star I would. The jump scares were the only thing somewhat decent in this movie. Everything else was so mediocre and cheesy. Overly predictable storyline and over the top characters. It seems no effort was made in anything in this movie from the set to the characters. I expected it to be somewhat better cuz it was directed by John Carpenter.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

10/11/24

Full Review

Eric M

So, so, bad. The acting is cringe inducing. This is prime HDTGM material.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

09/11/24

Full Review

Jeffrey P

Reminiscent of the original Suspira for much of the duration... which does make the ending work that much better if aware of it from the start.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

09/08/24

Full Review

Jay H

I avoided this movie for years; I love a lot of John Carpenter's work, but most of his later output was forgettable. I finally watched it tonight, and while it isn't one of his best, I enjoyed it. Certainly, it's much better than Escape from L.A., Vampires, and Ghosts of Mars.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

07/01/24

Full Review

Read all reviews

Read More

Read Less

POST RATING

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

John Carpenter

Director

Amber Heard

Kristen

Danielle Panabaker

Sarah

Lyndsy Fonseca

Iris

Laura-Leigh

Zoey

Mamie Gummer

Emily

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

Faces in the Crowd

0%

34%

Faces in the Crowd

Watchlist

Return to House on Haunted Hill

43%

20%

Return to House on Haunted Hill

Watchlist

Smiley

17%

30%

Smiley

Watchlist

The Pact

65%

41%

The Pact

Watchlist

And Soon the Darkness

17%

16%

And Soon the Darkness

Watchlist

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Critics Consensus: Horrible Bosses is Certified Fresh

24 Frames: The Films of John Carpenter

View more photos

Synopsis

No one believes the claims of a young woman (Amber Heard) that a dead patient is stalking the residents of the psychiatric facility.

Director: John Carpenter
Producer: Peter Block, Doug Mankoff, Mike Marcus, Andrew Spaulding
Screenwriter: Michael Rasmussen, Shawn Rasmussen
Distributor: ARC Entertainment
Production Co: FilmNation Entertainment, Echo Lake Productions, Premiere Picture, Bigger Boat
Rating: R (Violence|Disturbing Images)
Genre: Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 8, 2011, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 18, 2016
Runtime: 1h 28m

Most Popular at Home Now