Haven't I seen these before? The Ward and Death Stop Holocaust

Sorry, but The Fog came back and took all my new ideas.
I rented The Ward last week and was really glad to see that both of the rental stores in town had about 20 copies each. My thoughts after watching it? Well, maybe Carpenter should've stayed in full-length feature retirement, or at least spent more time developing original ideas. Now, that may have been a bit too harsh, but there wasn’t a single thing new or exciting added to the insane asylum/mental patient genre, and I feel this could've been cut down to an hour episode for the Masters of Horror series. Sure, there would have been less character and story development, but would it really matter? There was zero emotional investment in any character but the lead, Kristen (Amber Heard), and that's probably just because she's hot and I didn't want to see her die.

So, the story goes like this: After being admitted to a mental ward for burning down a house, Kristen starts seeing something scary in the shadows (and in fogged up mirrors). Knowing that she’s not crazy, she fakes taking her meds, and spends every waking moment trying to figure out who/what the ghoul is, and plotting her escape. I thought I was watching an episode of MacGyver, because she uses a letter opener to unlock a door, a penny to unscrew an air duct cover, and a bed spring to get her straight jacket off. This chick can’t be contained! But, as mentioned above, all the characters are forgettable, and the retro feel (set in the 60's) felt pretty lame. It’s like he dusted off a script he had packed away from the 70's or 80’s, and decided to make it today, which just did nothing for me.

So yeah, I was thoroughly disappointed, because how many times can the twist ending be a multiple personality thing? Shit, I should have just watched One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest again to get my loony fix. But I will say, I never really get tired of looking at Amber Heard, and the shower scene was probably the best of them all, with side boob shots of several of the female cast. I just wish Carpenter would have done more with this film, and his failure to do so is probably why the major studios passed on it.


My follow-up feature was Death Stop Holocaust, which I had been looking forward to after seeing a trailer and contacting the director, Justin Russell, for a screener. Needless to say, I'd have to wait, because Shriek Show picked it up, and it was getting an official release in a few months. But, I feel my wait was in vain, because how many times do we have to see the same ideas and imagery rehashed again and again with no refreshing twist? Grindhouse homages and killers in horse and pig masks have been done several times, so let’s please try something different. This is his first feature since his student film, The Gremlin, and it’s easy to see his influences and love of the genre, which was done here on a meager $13K budget. I just really wish he would have broken away from the familiar roles and situations, given us more interesting killers and kills, and with his next feature, The Sleeper (a nod to the slasher/giallo genre) will take us to not so common ground.

I felt I'd seen both of these features before, and while it would be easy to say that creativity in the horror world is dead, which would mean I’ll hate the next 5-10 years worth of new movies, I'll just say it's extremely challenged. I still get excited to see new horror movies, but am often let down with the final product. I liked Super 8 and Final Destination 5, and am looking forward to Don't Be Afraid of the Dark and Shark Night (even though it's Jaws for today's kids), but don't have high hopes for Fright Night or Conan the Barbarian (which looks absolutely ridiculous). Since anyone can make their own damn movie these days (Thanks, Lloyd!), the garbage factor is sure to rise, but I can only hope that diamonds in the rough start to emerge, as the efforts get tiresome, and the landfill is almost full. But hey, if it you saves you money by reading this blog, then I have no problem weeding out the chaff.