Psycho Ward (2007)

Excellent adaptation.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

If 1988 Democratic Party vice-presidential nominee Lloyd Bentson were debating whether Jim Kosmenko as PSYCHO WARD's title character was destined to be the next Jason Voorhees (instead of whether Dan Quayle was cut out to be the next JFK), he would say "you know what, I MET Jason Voorhees; Jason Voorhees chased after me; Jason Voorhees almost shish-ka-bobbed my mid-section; and you, sir, are no Jason Voorhees." Or Michael Meyers, as far as that goes. In fact, in the realm of masked serial killers, Kosmenko's portrayal of Darrell Coombs must be the most boring such characterization ever committed to film. (When I was growing up, a whole passel of Coombs kids lived just down the hill from us, and the little fingers of every last one of them was scarier than ANYTHING foisted upon the screen in PSYCHO WARD.) Let's get down to brass tacks. It's as if the script for this travesty said "insert gory special effect here" every three pages--and that the durn film editor forgot ALL but one of these inserts! I've rated a lot of horror films 8, 9, or 10 though they had few if any gory effects. (In fact, I just gave a "10" to what I view as one of the scariest 100 movies ever--THE ROCKING HORSE WINNER--and the most frightening visual in the whole movie is the expression on the wooden horse's face (which never changes, seeing as how CGI was not around in 1949). But when all your ads for your flick promise a slasher offering, there durn well better be some slashing in it! Drilling a couple holes in a single forehead doesn't cut it!

When I saw this movie at Blockbuster I was expecting an extremely intense psychological thriller and based on the cover I thought I'd be pretty scared. I have never been so wrong. This was the biggest waste of 86 minutes of my life that I will never get back. I would rather watch grass die. All of the characters were extremely annoying, we know nothing about them and they are the most horrible actors I have ever had the misfortune to witness. The filming made me look at the box wondering if it was made in the 80's, but no, they just suck. Anybody more than 10 feet from the camera didn't look like they even had eyes. The gore scenes were either not shown or incredibly unrealistic, using what looked like ketchup as blood. Ways that the killer murdered his victims was illogical, a nail gun does not have enough power to make a clean hole in your skull...?? Plus, we have absolutely no idea why he is killing all of these random irrelevant people, who scream like 5 year olds in a school play. The only reason we kept watching was to make fun of the horrible lack of plot and acting skills. The only reason most people would watch it is if they were horny teenage boys that liked the two girls flashing in the first 10 minutes and hoping it would continue. To their dismay they were sorely disappointed. Why on earth would anyone put this out on the market or bother to get it rated? Why would Lionsgate or Blockbuster spend their money on this crap excuse for a movie? Needless to say, this was the worst movie I have ever seen, and it basically SUCKED. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME.

Looking for answers about the "Pandora Project," a rumoured medical experiment that used prisoners and mental patients as test subjects, a crew of "urban explorers" head to Black Creek mental hospital. Once there, as expected, the members of the group begin to drop off, one by one, in gruesome fashion.Let's be honest. . . it doesn't take much to make a reasonable slasher flick. Reasonable writing, actors, and direction are not necessities when it comes to this subgenre. Some of the most entertaining slashers out there were fairly unimpressive in the technical aspects. However, when a film fails in these departments and manages to deliver nothing else to make up for it, there is nothing for the viewers to grasp on to and enjoy. This is what happened with 'Psycho Ward,' the straight-to-video release from Lions Gate.As far as positives go, there's not much to say. The location is pretty cool, but it's hard not to make an abandoned mental hospital look creepy & cool. Also, another visual bonus comes from the gore & makeup FX which were somewhat professional-looking, even if the subpar direction, cinematography, and editing ruined some of the quality of the effects. Sadly, that's about it for anything worthwhile in the film. It's not original. It's not well written. It's not well made. Most importantly, it's not very much fun, which is just about the worst thing that can happen to a slasher filck.Final Verdict: 2.5/10.-AP3-

Slasher horror we've all seen before, but we've seen it better.The story is very simple, a bunch of teens led by Dr. Richard Magellan visit an abandoned prison, which the Doc believes to have been used by the government to conduct experiments using serial killers as guinea pigs. The Doc wishes to document the place and find out the 'truth'. They enter the prison and that's when people start getting bumped off.Despite its low budget the general filming and editing is quite good, some nice effects used in places, the gore scenes (plenty of them) are done well with no cgi, though most kills are off screen the results of the brutal attacks are shown and look pretty good. Unfortunately this is were the good stuff ends.The acting is weak, almost all the characters are weak and/or annoying - in fact the only 'likeable' character is 'Studs' and it seems like he was the character we're supposed to hate! The lead actor playing the doc is simply boring and virtually monotone. 'Sarah' is so annoying I wanted her to die in the first 10 mins, actually that goes for most of the characters. There is near zero back story or character development, the story pushes an expected twist - which doesn't happen and most annoying of all is that there is no answers, no conclusions!The door has been left open for a sequel, I really hope the people involved don't bother.Well filmed, good make-up, bad characters, crap story.3/10