A far cry from Carpenter’s glory days.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Mar 11, 2023

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

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

| Dec 15, 2017

The Ward fails on every count in which it should hit a home run.

| Nov 6, 2017

Mr. Carpenter manages to overcome all of the setbacks to churn out something half decent - That in itself is pretty thrilling to watch.

| Oct 7, 2015

The Ward might not bode too well for Carpenter's come back, but he did do good things with what he had to work with (clichd story and script).

| Original Score: 5/10 | Mar 2, 2013

John Carpenter has made his first unintentional comedy.

| Original Score: F | Oct 2, 2012

The Ward should send some chills down your spine, but it probably won't stay with you.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jan 29, 2012

The Ward, while not stellar by any means, is absolutely worth your time.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 9, 2011

The movie's fluidity of motion is intoxicating. It's hard to argue that the so-so material is up to [Carpenter's] highest standards, but it can also be easily forgiven, and even enjoyed.

| Sep 2, 2011

The master who gave us "Halloween," one of the most terrifying films of all time, can't provoke more than a chill in "The Ward."

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Sep 1, 2011

By no means a perfect film, but Carpenter has an unparalleled gift for constructing a sequence.

| Jul 18, 2011

This is rusty 'Ghost of Mars' John Carpenter, not 'The Thing' John Carpenter -- and certainly not 'Halloween' John Carpenter.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Jul 14, 2011

While a disappointment, The Ward is by no means a complete dud.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 14, 2011

Insanity you have to cooperate with.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Jul 11, 2011

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

May be the first ever Carpenter film that isn't immediately recognizable as such.

| Original Score: C+ | Jul 10, 2011

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

'Ward' Script Not Up to Carpenter's Standards

| Original Score: C plus | Jul 8, 2011

Genre veteran John Carpenter's sleekly professional ghost story is well-acted and directed but sadly derivative. Horror fans have seen it all before.

| Jul 8, 2011