Session 9 (2001)

My husband and I had been excited about seeing SESSION 9 ever since we'd heard positive things about it from friends. Well, this chiller lived up to their praise and then some! By the time SESSION 9 ended, I felt like someone had been holding a knife to my throat for 100 minutes. I've never seen director/co-writer Brad Anderson's romantic comedy NEXT STOP WONDERLAND, but after sitting riveted and cowering in my seat throughout SESSION 9, I had a hard time imagining Anderson tackling anything even remotely lighthearted! Even when SESSION 9's blue-collar heroes exchange wisecracks, there's nothing jokey about the film; this isn't your ironic, self-mocking, postmodern kind of horror flick a la SCREAM. Speaking of lightheartedness, I knew Vin was as profoundly affected by SESSION 9 as I was because he never once leaned over and made any quips to me about anything happening onscreen, a rarity for my hubby! :-) Basically, there are two kinds of horror films: 1) the rollercoaster thrill ride kind, usually with cool F/X and inventive violence, which manage to be both scary and exhilarating at the same time (such as JAWS or SCREAM) and 2) the moody psychological thriller, usually character-driven rather than F/X driven (think HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER or THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT). (Interestingly, the original 1963 version of THE HAUNTING fit in the #2 category and the 1999 version fit more in the #1 category; but I digress...) In the more emotional, realistic horror films, you might say the terror comes from, to borrow a phrase from FORBIDDEN PLANET, "monsters from the id." FP rendered its monsters from the id in animation form, but SESSION 9 doesn't need to. There's a sense of dread from the very first frame, with an askew camera angle on what seems to be an electric chair in an otherwise empty, long-neglected room. The sharp, sudden sound effects (passing cars sound like jets in this movie!) and eerie, backwards-sounding music by Climax Golden Twins (not at all what I'd have expected from Executive Music Producer Carson Daly of MTV fame) creeped me out, too. Having said all that, SESSION 9 isn't really a film about imagery, special effects, or gore. (In fact, there isn't much gore at all until the end, and even then it's plausible, real-world kind of gore, not some kind of Grand Guignol over-the-top bloodletting.) It's a truly intense, compelling nightmare about decent people and how, under pressure, their flaws and vulnerabilities and moments of bad judgment may lead to horror and tragedy for themselves and everyone in their orbit. I want to talk on and on about this film, and yet I don't want to, because I'm afraid of spoiling the shocks and suspense for you. I will tell you, however, that the protagonists are members of a hazardous materials removal team embarking on a job at the massive, imposing, long-abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital (a real place in Massachusetts, BTW. So no, the Danvers name is not a tip of the hat to REBECCA! :-). This bat-shaped behemoth of a building is so remarkable that it feels like a character in its own right. But even before the men set foot in Danvers, the stage is set for tension and trouble. Desperate to get the Danvers job, boss man Gordon (Peter Mullan), a recent Scottish émigré to the U.S. and new father of a sickly, fussy baby, bids low and promises that he and his team can finish the job in one week. Crew chief Phil (David Caruso) is unhappy because he thinks 2 or 3 weeks would be more realistic, plus he doesn't

Fmovies: I had read a lot on Session 9 before going to see it and had certain expectations. Although it started out slowly, the story was good. The "scary" parts were fewer and farther between than I expected and there was some mild gore at the end. The psychology and personalities were what I found most interesting. As the days passed after seeing the movie, I found myself remembering what I had thought to be insignificant things, and putting more of the subtle "creepy" things together.

Session 9 is the creepiest horror film I've seen in years. Brad Anderson has made a movie that is subtle, and features actors playing everyday people who not only act and talk like real people (which means none of the usual horror atrocities of going off in the dark alone, etc), but also aren't killed off one by one according to their billing in the credits. The tension builds slowly, without a cheap shock scene in sight, until it is almost unbearable. Towards the end, the plot runs out of steam and the twists are a bit anti-climatic. However, everything is so well-crafted and executed in this picture, from the writing, cinematography and acting to the use of sound and digital film, that it's a moot point. Anyone with an ounce of interest in the horror genre should rent this little known gem.

Session 9 fmovies. With a brilliant premise, "Session 9" is a slow build of genuine atmospheric creepiness. More akin to Nicolas Roeg's classic "Don't Look Now" than more recent horror fare with high body counts, director Brad Anderson effectively builds tension in layers of voiceovers and (mostly subtle) foreshadowing to build to a climax of madness, with sparing use of the cheaper horror devices. Unfortunately the characters are not as fleshed out as one would have hoped, so we are left with some unanswered questions (we would have liked to have met Gordon's family and Hank's girlfriend. Why did Mike drop out of law school?). Though the subtle horrors of this film may fail to grasp the short attention spans of younger moviegoers who consider "I Know What You Did Last Scream" to be the de facto standard of the genre, this is a very cleverly executed, if imperfect, thriller.

Made on a low budget, this brilliant horror film succeeds because it doesn't fall back on any cheap gimmicks, like special effects or "shock" moments, but instead provides an eerie, forbidding atmosphere and genuine, three-dimensional characters. Writer-director Brad Anderson allows each of the characters to be an individual, to develop and play off each other, so we become genuinely interested in who these guys are, and then he allows the horror to grow out of their personalities and the world that they inhabit. This is a genuinely effective approach that recalls some of the more brilliant horror films of the past (The Shining, The Exorcist) before they were replaced by cheesy slasher movies and self-mocking teen horror flicks.

The plot in a nutshell: five men are hired to remove the asbestos from a condemned mental hospital (the movie was filmed on location at Danvers State Hospital, a place so disturbing that many of the actors reported hearing and seeing strange things during filming). As the week continues, they each begin to be affected by the place, and it's clear there's a presence of some kind there...

Each of the five main actors has a distinct style; Mullan is sullen and unsettled, Caruso is dark and intense, Sexton is hyperactive and talkative, Lucas is loud and cocky, and co-writer Gevedon is quiet and introspective. Their distinct styles allow these men to emerge as having very different personalities, and they play off each other wonderfully, with friendly banter at the beginning and as they argue and conflict with each other as the plot wears on and fear gradually sets in for each of them.

As far as the film's ending goes, let this much be said- Anderson deserves credit for willingness to follow his dark vision to the intense and unsettling end. It was probably necessary for this to be an independent film, because any major studio would have forced the filmmakers to abandon their brilliant style and add a contrived, Hollywood-style ending. Like the great horror films of yesteryear, Session 9 powerful, frightening, and most of all uncompromising.

No point in mincing words: Brad Anderson's Session 9 is the best horror movie I've seen in a long time. It's intelligent, well-written, it's completely unpredictable, it looks great (I didn't really notice until the second viewing how well the editing and the photography work together), and the soundtrack is downright creepy. Until recently only two films had managed to make me lie awake at night: Dario Argento's "Opera" and Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chain Saw Massacre". Well, now the list includes three films. Honestly, there is no excuse not to see this one, folks. Horror doesn't get any better than this.