John Carpenter, one of the greatest horror directors of all-time, and that’s not a contradictory statement, will be stepping into the mental asylum to direct “The Ward,” a psychological thriller starring Amber Heard.
Heard recently appeared in “Pineapple Express” and “The Informers,” so she’s got some momentum building. Why not do a horror film? It is pretty much the one genre that can guarantee solid box-office numbers without having to offer a quality feature. And Carpenter did pretty good things for Jamie Lee Curtis’ career, if we recall correctly.
The film is set to begin shooting in May, and follows “the disturbing experience of a young woman in an institution who is terrorized by a ghost,” states THR. It couldn’t be worse than Gothika, right?
Carpenter holds classic horrors like “Halloween” and “The Thing” on his resume, and has nothing but good things to say about the script. “‘The Ward’ is the kind of script that I’ve been looking for: a complex, visceral story, full of suspense and scares,” Carpenter said. Consider that quote compared to the likes of “Hostel” director Eli Roth, who responded to questions about his script by saying, “It’s got boobies in it!” Yeah, we made up that quote. But you saw “Hostel,” so you know we aren’t that far off.
Doug Mankoff, Mike Marcus and Andy Spaulding of Echo Lake Entertainment are producing the film, and . Peter Block of A Bigger Boat is co-financing and producing with Echo Lake. The film is a rare genre effort for Echo Lake after producing films such as “Water,” “Tsotsi,” and “Away From Her.” They definitely have the right director to roll the dice with.
