Director John Carpenter seems to again be in the fray of directing movies. It’s been since 2001′s Ice Cube-led Ghosts of Mars. Prior to that it was 1998′s Vampires (“Finally a role that requires you to suck,” as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog once told Jon Bon Jovi). It appears to me that Carpenter hasn’t made what anybody considers a “good” movie in 20 years. I’m calling that film They Live. While even though I haven’t seen it, I know it’s at least developed somewhat of a cult following. That’s unfortunate for a guy who started out his career with an amazing streak of classics, including Halloween and The Thing.

Although the man has one production title and two announced titles on his IMDb page, it’s now been announced that his next project will be a psychological thriller set inside a mental institution, titled The Ward. The film was written by Michael and Sean Rasmussen. Michael was the writer for a film called Long Distance. The script entails a young woman inside the institution, who is terrorized by a ghost. Doesn’t that kind of sound like the premise for Gothika? Amber Heard, who starred in Never Back Down and Pineapple Express will be playing the disturbed young woman.

Does this sound interesting to anybody? At this stage in his career, is Carpenter an auteur whose work you can still look forward to? Let me know, because I’m certainly on the negative side.

Here are two relevant clips. One is the aforementioned Triumph roasting of Bon Jovi. The other is the Never Back Down trailer, because you know it’s tight.