Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Ward’

Written by Scott Edwards 

Sometimes thinking that you are going crazy can drive you more nuts than you previously thought you were. Most of the time, you are not the one that thinks of yourself as being the crazy one, but everyone around you is saying that you are. It is trying to get them to believe you that you are not going crazy that is the hard thing to do as most of us house a little bit of crazy and that is just normal in my eyes.

Kristen is being chased by the police in 1966 and does not understand why. Burning an old home to the ground seemed like the right thing for her to do, but she is going to be placed in a psychiatric ward none the less. Being a danger to herself and everyone that gets around her, she is going to be under the medical care of Doctor Stringer who is practicing some future techniques to help cure the mentally unstable. Although Kristen does not believe that she has anything wrong with her, she is forced to succumb to the treatments as she is outnumbered by the orderlies.  

Meeting up with the other girls that are also being held in the ward, Kristen tries to be friends with them all, but finds that not everyone is willing to go along with it. Emily, Sarah, Zoey and Iris have all been housed together for some time and have their own problems and secrets that they have to keep to themselves. Kristen still feels that she has nothing wrong with her and that she does not belong in a place for the insane, and she tries to find out if there is any way to escape the premises. But once Kristen finds that there is someone else in the holding block that is not human and is looking to hurt her, it becomes more apparent that it is time to find her way out. 

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After dealing with a strange visitation while taking a shower, Kristen is freaked out, but none of the doctors or her ward mates are willing to listen to her about what she witnessed. Needing to know why this strange character is targeting her, Kristen is able to convince one of the other girls to give up the name of the girl that is terrorizing her; Alice. With no help from the medical staff, Kristen tries her hardest to figure out what happened to Alice and why there is a ghost hunting her in the ward when she did nothing to instigate the attacks. When she discovers that the other girls did not like Alice and killed her off before Kristen’s arrival because she was abusive to everyone else, Kristen has to find out why she is being targeted as well.

The Ward follows Kristen as she is desperately trying to prove to the medical staff at the psychiatric ward that she is not crazy. As she is locked up with a group of girls that seem to have real problems, she finds out that there is something strange going on in the ward that no one wants to discuss as some of the girls go missing. Trying to figure out what is causing the strange occurrences, Kristen finds that there was a girl named Alice that is trying to exact her revenge on the girls that murdered her and has Kristen next in her sights. With no help coming from the medical staff, Kristen needs to find a way to escape the ward before she ends up becoming Alice’s next victim.  

A battle of wills is the best way to describe how this movie moves along. Focusing on what happens in your mind when you are trying to forget something from your past and coming up with the ultimate coping mechanisms. John Carpenter takes you down the rabbit hole as you follow Kristen on her path of proving that she is of sound mind but finds that there is no happy ending as she will never be able to escape the ward. With Alice killing off her new friends, it is enjoyable to watch as Kristen comes up with the ultimate plan of escape but will always be held back by the ghost of Alice who is looking for much more out of her. Stay Scared.

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