What has become of John Carpenter? The indie director who shaped the horror genre of the 80’s with his iconic 70’s output (Halloween, The Fog) has fallen far from grace. While his 70’s films appear dated, in the 80’s he made the brilliant The Thing (the Carpenter-less prequel is due out this year. Expect it to flop), Escape from New York, and Big Trouble in Little China. Indeed, 3 of his films were remade in the past decade. But ever since his botched remake of Village of the Damned the master of horror has been failing miserably. And his new flick The Ward is no exception.

Set in 1960’s US, a young woman named Kristen (Amber Heard) is found burning down a house. She’s taken to a psychiatric institution and joins a group of disturbed young ladies. Kristen attempts to escape when she realises that the girls are starting to disappear under suspect circumstances, and a strange, distorted female figure is seen creeping around. Her appeals to a sympathetic doctor (Jarred Harris) go unnoticed.

The Ward in a way is a throwback to the kind of horror the 80’s were full of. But while audiences lapped that up like a MacDonalds milkshake at the time, they’re more sophisticated now. An uninspired film like this will offer very little. Indeed, so uninspired is this hack job that on almost every front the film falls flat. Heard is unconvincing (as are the other gals, especially the otherwise promising Lyndsy Fonseca), she doesn’t even look remotely like she’s from the 1960’s (the 80’s clothing doesn’t help either), and most of the cast use modern-day vernacular. Why set it in the past if you’re not going to bother?

But these gripes are nothing compared to the plot. Needless to say horror as dire as this requires several twists in order to keep the audience awake. But they’re all standard fare, and the big twist about Kristen’s seemingly normal ward-mates is not only predictable, but also dilutes the apparent theme of 1960’s psychology being somewhat misogynistic. And besides the twists we have an array of “gotcha” jolts, where the monster/ghost gal jumps out of unsuspecting corners and promptly disappears. Again, this was a common method in 1980’s horror but the heavy-handed direction (muting the music until the big jolt, framing for something to pop into shot) lessens the effect.And there’s even a scary shower scene, the obligatory 80′s attempt to connect voyeurism with death.

Carpenter made some great films through his indie DIY ethic, but it’s hard to deny he was unable to progress beyond a certain point. Perhaps box-office failure has limited his options and creativity. But with a film as droll as The Ward, he has been reduced to a mere hack, constantly referring back to the prosperous age of horror cinema when everyone else has moved on.