Edited 10/26/11

For a while Netflix really bothered me.  First there was the price increase, which I understand the necessity of, though it was handled really, really badly.  Then there was the whole Quikster debacle, and recently not only has the company lost somewhere around 800,000 viewers in the United States, but the stock price has taken a dive.

But I can forgive the first two–and care less for the third because I don’t own any Netflix stock–because today I learned that John Carpenter’s “The Ward” is streaming.

For those of you unaware, Carpenter directed classic genre films like “Halloween,” “The Fog,” Escape From New York,” “Prince Of Darkness,” “Big Trouble In Little China,” as well as “The Thing (not the film which is in theaters now, which considering how mediocre it is, isn’t a bad thing),” “Vampires,” and the list goes on.

Which is not to say that he hasn’t had a few–shall we say less than good films–but when you have done work as great as he has, he’s entitled to the occasional misfire.

“The Ward” has been the recipient of relatively lukewarm reviews, but it’s John Carpenter, and his worst is often on par with some other directors best.

By the way, speaking of “Halloween,” the original came out today in 1978.