The Ward

I would not have predicted that John Carpenter, whose best films apply a spare, unobtrusive, classic aesthetic (like a quirkier, sicker Clint Eastwood) to horror stories would make a movie like The Ward (2011), which embodies the worst tendencies of modern horror cinema and post-MTV filmmaking in general. Aside from aping the theme song and some crucial plot points from Suspiria, The Ward is paralyzed in the fashions of the present, including but not limited to:

-An awful twist ending that features the obligatory, post-climax, explicative montage which attempts to shed light on the secrets of the plot, but actually relies on the audience forgetting everything he or she just experienced for the duration of the film. As Donald Kaufman said in Apaptation, isn't that fucked up?
-Maxim-cover-girl-as-lead-actress in Amber Heard, who perpetually appears caked in makeup regardless of scenario and who plays a disturbed young woman in the 1960's with the accent and demeanor of a modern-day Californian ordering a Starbucks. On the plus side, Heard's bursts of physicality occasionally evoke pleasant thoughts of her offscreen lesbianism.
-CGI monster/ghost with ho-hum ghoulish features, who appears and disappears with the blink of an eye and the crash of an orchestra. Unlike the tactile monsters of yore, the appearance of this particular breed of bogeyman (very popular in J-horror) does not necessarily portend violence or conflict, but rather, a cheap tension-deflating jump scare. The split-second cutting does not disguise the bad-CGI.
-Frenzied MTV-style cutting. See above.
-Brutality without suspense. one of the main flaws of the Splat Pack torture porn movement, violent situations arise out of nowhere in The Ward except Carpenter doesn't have the heart to relish and extend the gore.

The setting in a haunted 60's women's psych ward would seem to be ripe for establishing character detail and evoking the menace of abusive medical authority. But like Shutter Island, another bad movie from a good director, The Ward is a psychological thriller without compelling psychology. Aside from Jared Harris and Mamie Gummer's eccentric, pro performances, the rest of the cast can't manifest character, nor does the breakneck editing and weak script allow the actors breathing room.

John Carpenter has arguably been making bad movies for years now, but The Wardsignifies a feedback loop of regression: a master filmmaker not merely declining on his own terms, but co-opting the techniques of younger directors (Wan, Aja, Darren Lynn Bousman, Nispel, etc) whose films are probably lesser, in part, because they did not watch enough of Carpenter's films in the first place.