Session 9
DVD
****
Directed by
Brad Anderson
Written by
Brad Anderson
Stephen Gevedon
David Caruso .... Phil
Stephen Gevedon .... Mike
Paul Guilfoyle .... Bill Griggs
Peter Mullan .... Gordon Fleming
Brendan Sexton III .... Jeff
Charles Broderick .... Security Guard
Lonnie Farmer .... Doctor
Larry Fessenden .... Craig McManus
Jurian Hughes .... Mary Hobbes
Sheila Stasack .... Wendy
R
102 min
Every
so often, there's a movie that comes along that is both scary and
suspenseful, that doesn't require huge amounts of blood and
mock-satanic rituals to do its job. And when one of those come along,
I'm rather be pleased with it. Session 9 is one of those movies.
The
DVD menu is kind of interesting, actually. Strange sounds of tape
recorders running backwards and distortion on the screen text typeface
make for a rather eerie opening, giving you that certain sense that
something will be very wrong in the relatively near future.
What
we've got here is the story of a mental hospital closed for almost
twenty years, and the assorted strange goings-on inside the
now-abandoned hulk. And what a hulk it is, too. This monstrous
Victorian-era building staring out over the tree covered countryside
like some kind of dark cult leader waving the kool-aid and screaming
about "my babies." The inside walls, on the other hand, are in pretty
sad shape. They are covered with graffiti of various types, everything
from obscene suggestions to strange pictures of people to even a couple
of pentagrams.
The former mental hospital also has a lot of history--assorted evil rituals and baby-eating whatnot.
And all this assorted business adds up to some very nasty things lurking inside the mental hospital.
A
group of fellows is sent in to clean the place up so it can be restored
and used for some reason or another, they don't really say very
clearly, but what they find in that building is something else, like
reel-to-reel tape recordings describing horrifying events from
Christmases past...described by a patient with multiple personality
disorder. And almost in the background, we've got five guys on a
cleaning crew, their lives and hopes intersecting on one giant scale
with the haunted hospital in the foreground.
It's all very psychologically haunting.
And
man, are there creepy scenes in this! One of the best hits about an
hour and fifteen minutes in, where the mystery is getting right to its
thickest. The generator they're using to provide lights and power to
their equipment shuts down, and a tunnel lined with light bulbs just
suddenly starts to shut down, one after the next.
This is the
point when all hell breaks loose, and most of the mysteries get their
solutions. They're really nasty solutions, too. Frankly, the last half
hour of Session 9 is scarier and more alarming than some entire movies
I've seen.
The ending is also a real doozy. It not only is
actually SCARIER than everything leading up to it, it's also an
excellent plot device, wrapping up all the unfinished loose ends. (What
was the ending? What was it about? Give a brief discription so that the
reader will have a better idea about what you're alluding).
The
special features menu is surprisingly in depth, offering storyboards,
commentary, a theatrical trailer, and a documentary called The Haunted
Palace, which is an excellent look at the setting and how the
filmmakers reached the decision to use this place in their film.
I'm
amazed by the admission that this was in theatres. I had to go dig this
factoid up on the IMDB, and it's true. Session 9 had a limited
theatrical engagement in the United States and, by all accounts, did
fairly well at the box office. It made a profit, which is rare enough
for this type of movie. But where it REALLY cleaned up was in Spain.
That's right, folksyou're watching a movie that was the Spider Man 2 of
Spain for a couple weeks.
Reel Advice-where you learn things you never thought you would or that you never even realized you wanted to know.
Also,
there is a selection of deleted scenes and an alternate ending, which
is actually creepier than the original ending, if you can believe that.
So, all in all, Session 9 is a seriously creepy movie that manages to be part ghost story and part murder mystery all at once.
DVD
****
Directed by
Brad Anderson
Written by
Brad Anderson
Stephen Gevedon
David Caruso .... Phil
Stephen Gevedon .... Mike
Paul Guilfoyle .... Bill Griggs
Peter Mullan .... Gordon Fleming
Brendan Sexton III .... Jeff
Charles Broderick .... Security Guard
Lonnie Farmer .... Doctor
Larry Fessenden .... Craig McManus
Jurian Hughes .... Mary Hobbes
Sheila Stasack .... Wendy
R
102 min
Every
so often, there's a movie that comes along that is both scary and
suspenseful, that doesn't require huge amounts of blood and
mock-satanic rituals to do its job. And when one of those come along,
I'm rather be pleased with it. Session 9 is one of those movies.
The
DVD menu is kind of interesting, actually. Strange sounds of tape
recorders running backwards and distortion on the screen text typeface
make for a rather eerie opening, giving you that certain sense that
something will be very wrong in the relatively near future.
What
we've got here is the story of a mental hospital closed for almost
twenty years, and the assorted strange goings-on inside the
now-abandoned hulk. And what a hulk it is, too. This monstrous
Victorian-era building staring out over the tree covered countryside
like some kind of dark cult leader waving the kool-aid and screaming
about "my babies." The inside walls, on the other hand, are in pretty
sad shape. They are covered with graffiti of various types, everything
from obscene suggestions to strange pictures of people to even a couple
of pentagrams.
The former mental hospital also has a lot of history--assorted evil rituals and baby-eating whatnot.
And all this assorted business adds up to some very nasty things lurking inside the mental hospital.
A
group of fellows is sent in to clean the place up so it can be restored
and used for some reason or another, they don't really say very
clearly, but what they find in that building is something else, like
reel-to-reel tape recordings describing horrifying events from
Christmases past...described by a patient with multiple personality
disorder. And almost in the background, we've got five guys on a
cleaning crew, their lives and hopes intersecting on one giant scale
with the haunted hospital in the foreground.
It's all very psychologically haunting.
And
man, are there creepy scenes in this! One of the best hits about an
hour and fifteen minutes in, where the mystery is getting right to its
thickest. The generator they're using to provide lights and power to
their equipment shuts down, and a tunnel lined with light bulbs just
suddenly starts to shut down, one after the next.
This is the
point when all hell breaks loose, and most of the mysteries get their
solutions. They're really nasty solutions, too. Frankly, the last half
hour of Session 9 is scarier and more alarming than some entire movies
I've seen.
The ending is also a real doozy. It not only is
actually SCARIER than everything leading up to it, it's also an
excellent plot device, wrapping up all the unfinished loose ends. (What
was the ending? What was it about? Give a brief discription so that the
reader will have a better idea about what you're alluding).
The
special features menu is surprisingly in depth, offering storyboards,
commentary, a theatrical trailer, and a documentary called The Haunted
Palace, which is an excellent look at the setting and how the
filmmakers reached the decision to use this place in their film.
I'm
amazed by the admission that this was in theatres. I had to go dig this
factoid up on the IMDB, and it's true. Session 9 had a limited
theatrical engagement in the United States and, by all accounts, did
fairly well at the box office. It made a profit, which is rare enough
for this type of movie. But where it REALLY cleaned up was in Spain.
That's right, folksyou're watching a movie that was the Spider Man 2 of
Spain for a couple weeks.
Reel Advice-where you learn things you never thought you would or that you never even realized you wanted to know.
Also,
there is a selection of deleted scenes and an alternate ending, which
is actually creepier than the original ending, if you can believe that.
So, all in all, Session 9 is a seriously creepy movie that manages to be part ghost story and part murder mystery all at once.
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