Session 9

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.

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.

Peter Mullan is truly fantastic here, as indeed are the whole cast, the acting if first rate in this well made, unusual horror.

I'm not sure if classify this so much as a horror, I see it more as a psychological thriller, and a truly good one at that. If I'm totally honest, I didn't fully understand all that was happening, but on a second viewing it made more sense.

I see a degree of originality here, it's far from a run of the mill film.

There is enough to keep you interested, and there are definitely a few twists that you won't see coming.

This is a film if gladly sit down to watch again, 8/10.

Set in an abandoned asylum, this film is a psychological thriller that, rather than being horror-oriented, focuses more on offering a slow and stealthy journey to a disturbed mind hidden among the protagonists. It is an independent film that did not require a large budget and its greatest strength is the story it offers. During the first days that the protagonists spend in the abandoned asylum, nothing interesting happens until the old recordings found begin to give hints of something disturbing that happened in the past. These indications only serve as a guide to imagine what could happen, but the film leaves open the question of whether there is something supernatural at the site or if it is just the mental imbalance of one of the characters. The film has a setting similar to The Shinning and Silent Hill because the old building becomes darker, generating the feeling that something dangerous is going to happen. Session 9 is a fairly ambiguous film that plays a lot with psychology and leaves many questions or different sensations for those who see it. It can be boring or deep or meaningless or fascinating depending on the viewer's perspective. My rating for this movie is a 7/10.

A little seen but well-appreciated low budget horror offering, Session 9 remains one of director Brad Anderson's most accessible films, one that manages to create sufficient unease and tension from a familiar set-up that plays out in memorable moments.

A frustrating director whose well known for helming some of the best episodes of iconic TV series such as The Wire and Breaking Bad, Anderson has had a turbulent career as a feature director with the likes of this and Christian Bale classic The Machinist showcasing an undeniable talent but efforts like Fractured, The Call and Vanishing on 7th Street efforts that suggest quality control isn't always one of Anderson's strong suits.

Filmed with minimal funds at the perfect surrounds of the Danvers Mental Hospital (a more creepy setting you'd be hard pressed to find), Session 9 follows a group of Asbesto's removal workers who against the tight turnaround on the job at the hospital and their surrounds begin to loose grip on reality that seems to be infected by the darkness that lives within the walls of the long abandoned facility.

Staying clear of jump scares and generic frights, Anderson does a great job at allowing his characters room to breath and Session 9 never appears to be in any great rush to ramp up its proceedings but it never ceases to engage as we discover more about the history of the hospital, the men who find themselves working within its walls and the patients that once inhabited the premises due to various troubles and torments.

It's not just the hospital or its long gone patients that face torment in Anderson's tale though as business partners and long time friends Gordon and Phil appear to be battling their own personal demons as they go about their work and C.S.I heavyweight David Caruso and renowned character actor Peter Mullan are great in their respective roles that keep you guessing throughout when questions of sanity and mental state begin to be asked.

It's all very small-scale, the film remains confined for the most part to tiny rooms and foreboding hallways and its happy to focus on dialogue or empty corridors to create its uneasy vibe but it all goes hand in hand to eventually combine to establish one of the better low budget horror offerings of the early 2000's and a sufficiently spooky genre entry in general.

Final Say -

One of Brad Anderson's best feature film efforts, Session 9 is a small film with some big tension and a horror film genre fans would do well to seek out.

4 boxes of Oreo's out of 5