Previously posted on blog and written by B. Demeter
This is going to be tough. I can handle shitty movies- The Ward (2010) is not a shitty movie. I might even go out on a limb and say I like this movie. But I really don’t think I like the movie as much as I like the premise. In the time since I watched this film, I’ve reflected on the potential of the premise more so than what happens in the movie itself. Lets get into it!
The story revolves around Kristen, played by Amber Heard. She burns down an old barn house and gets thrown in the loony bin, a.k.a. the ward. The ward is populated by four girls, a mystery, and a liberal dose of dread. Girls seem to be disappearing from the ward without a trace or care from the doctors or staff. Weird shit.
Kristen is having none of that nonsense and tries to get to the bottom of things. It is revealed that a ghostly apparition of a former patient, Alice, is picking off the girls one at a time.
Okay, normally I won’t do this because I’m an asshole and don’t give a shit, but the rest of this review is going to get spoiler-ly; and I like this movie and I want people to watch it. So, if you have any intention of watching this movie, stop reading at the end of this paragraph and come back when you’re done. It is directed by horror legend John Carpenter, and Amber Heard is easy on the eyes… All right? Good, moving on.
Turns out Alice, as a patient, was straight murder killed by the four other girls before Kristen got there. That is why her ghost is killing them- for revenge. And Alice’s make-up is legit. She looks like a female version of Jason Voorhees from Friday 7- unquestionably the best Jason make-up of all time. Anyway, she’s an undead zombie and she’s killing all the girls.
The rest of the girls get killed leaving only Kristen. With her back against the wall, Kristen decides to throw down against zombie Alice and whacks her with an axe to the chest. Bada-bing, bada-boom, no more zombie Alice.
Or so we think!
After re-killing Alice, Kristen goes to the doctor’s office and is confronted by Dr. Stringer and a whole shit ton of facts.
Fact: The barn house that Kristen burned down was where Alice was kidnapped and tortured by some maniac eight years ago.
Fact: In order to cope with the trauma, Alice created split personalities.
Fact: Those other personalities killed the main Alice personality.
Fact: Through therapy, Dr. Stringer revived the Alice personality and was directing it to kill the other personalities.
And the therapy was working… that is until Alice’s mind invented Kristen. Kristen was the mind’s response to the death of the split personalities. Kristen was stronger than the others and therefore better able to take on the zombie Alice.
Shit just got real for Kristen, or unreal considering she is just a figment of Alice’s imagination. Zombie Alice pops back up and tackles Kristen out of the doctor’s office window. Good-bye Kristen.
It’s the end of the movie. Alpha Alice is leaving the hospital after having finally gotten over the kidnapping/torture trauma and the split personalities. But like any scary movie, there is one last jump scare- as Alice takes a final glimpse in the mirror, Kristen pops out and grabs her. The End, question mark.
Like I said in the beginning. Although I like this movie, I like the premise of this movie more. The idea of split personalities is good (if you haven’t seen John Cusack in Identity, you are missing out). The idea of split personalities and one of those personalities is a zombie that is killing the other personalities is fucking amazing! There is so much potential there; and The Ward used some of it. Not enough to make it a spectacular movie. I’d love to see this premise in movie more like Identity… Oh, shit. I hope I didn’t just spoil Identity for any of you.
The Ward is a good movie. I hope you watched it and enjoyed the idea as much as I did.
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