Carpenter’s next?

For years, genre master John Carpenter has considered returning from SoCal relaxation and cashing checks for inferior remakes of his work, but now it sounds like he’s seriously getting back in the director’s chair.

Carpenter will make THE WARD his first feature since 2001’s Red Planet crash-and-burn GHOSTS OF MARS. The psychological thriller stars the desirable Amber Heard (ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS) as an institutionalized woman stalked through the asylum by a (presumably horny) spirit.

The movie comes from Echo Lake, previously known for award-gathering films like TSOTSI and AWAY FROM HER. Carpenter calls THE WARD script “a complex, visceral story, full of suspense and scares,” which is pretty much exactly what we want to see from one of the founders of modern movie horror.