John Carpenter's THE WARD

[D-Man]

John Carpenter's THE WARD is playing at the Toronto International Film Festival and first reviews are looking promising. We should be seeing this one in general release sometime next year. (How about later this year, Powers That be?) It goes without saying I am psyched for Carpenter's return to the silver screen. I do wish he was doing something Lovecraftian but I'll take what I can get. This looks to be a lot of good, old fashioned fun. Can't wait.

[dc20willsave]

I think a major component in the later release date is so the movie had a good window. Frankly, there are few weekends coming up that the movie could flourish. Most are stuffed already or felled with movies that most of the movie-going public would go to see instead (Paranormal Activity 2 and Saw 7.)

[D-Man]

I'm sure you're right, dc, but I can't help wishing a film would come along and be David that is the Goliath of the SAW franchise. Last year it could have been TRICK 'R' TREAT but the studios chickened out. This could have been the year of Carpenter's triumphant return. A good marketing campaign that takes full advantage of his amazing body of work to sell this new film to a young audience could have pushed it over the top.

In a way, Carpenter has been gone so long it's like he's starting his career over again. There is a whole generation of casual film goers that are not familiar with the Carpenter brand of cinematic genius. It's time that changed. They should re-release a handful of his films in theaters just to prime the audiences for the WARD. THE THING, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, and PRINCE OF DARKNESS. I would see them multiple times in a theater re-release.