Psych:9

A young girl gets a night job at an abandoned hospital doing clerical work. She's not alone though, there is another man on level 5 doing similar work. The woman starts to get visions of creepy things in the hospital, which slowly makes her lose her mind. It doesn't help that there is also a serial killer deemed The Night Hawk roaming the streets outside.

Psych 9 goes in too many directions and none of them come to a cohesive ending. Too much is left up being ambiguous and the film asks way too much from the audience. Big plot questions are never answered and we are left to assume things. Psych 9 doesn't know what type of film it wants to be, it's a slasher film at one point, then a supernatural spook story the next. The story should have concentrated on one aspect and stuck with it.

Sara Foster plays Roslyn, the young woman who gets the new job. She hears and sees things that a creepy, this takes a toll on her. She begins to go a tad crazy and we get to know a bit more about her past. Foster does a good job here, she has quite a bit of depth to her character, more than you would expect from a film like this. Her character is a lot like Nina from the recent Black Swan. The man up on the 5th floor is Dr. Irvin Clement played by Cary Elwes. His two most famous roles are Dr. Lawrence Gordon from Saw and more memorably Westley from The Princess Bride. he mostly sits and chats up Foster in this role, nothing too challenging or memorable to comment on.

There is a detective after Night Hawk, played by the always reliable and awesome 24/7 Michael Biehn. Again, underused a bit, his scenes consist of him showing up, asking questions and then leaving. The memorable role here belongs to Foster and the creepy factor belongs to the hospital. Session 9 has some similar elements to this film and they pulled it off better. Here, it feels disjointed which leaves the viewer confused. I sure was at points and even still am.

A lot of the film has that "seen it before" vibe. Its cues are straight from other films. The confusing parts are the faults of the filmmakers, for either not knowing a definitive answer, or never having one. Parts of it feel incomplete and like two different movies. I would have liked them to have left the Night Hawk killer subplot at the door and concentrated the the hospital and how crazy Foster became. I sure as hell wouldn't work at that place at night.

A film about a young woman working in an abandoned hospital...zzz...are you still awake? Yep, we're back in the world of creepy abandoned buildings, ghosts caught on CCTV cameras, long corridors with poor lighting and unexplained noises coming from empty rooms. PSYCH 9 is one of those would-be horror films that ploughs entirely familiar turf.

The movie attempts to take a psychological approach to the material, but the derivative script combined with poor film-making skills results in a highly painful viewing experience. There are long, endless shots thrown in in a bid to establish mood but which do little other than test the viewer's endurance.

Throw in some by now perfunctionary flashbacks, clichéd jittery editing shots and a bunch of tired, has-been actors (Colleen Camp, Cary Elwes and an entirely superfluous Michael Biehn) and you have a recipe for disaster. Sara Foster's cold and unsympathetic lead is the final straw.

I don't know what's worse about the ending: that the script is so poor I wasn't who sure who the murderer was, or that by this point I had no interest in finding out.

The cast was very good, the cinematography fine, its the movie itself which is just poorly edited and convoluted. I know this sort of thing is en-vogue these days but give me a stylish Argento over this sort of thing any day. The flashback sequences do little to make the films point or establish any coherency to the story and the surprise ending should really be no surprise no matter how improbable. Film is a form of communication and the end product fails miserably in communicating anything at all. Again, kudos to a fine cast in spite of the material. Sets, lighting, atmosphere, cinematography a movie that would have had everything going for it in more capable hands.

"Psych 9" was somewhat of a surprise of a movie. It turned out to be nicer than I had anticipated, and at the same time it also turned out to be more 'weird' than I have thought it to be.

The storyline was interesting and captivating. You are immersed into the story almost right away and taken along for a thrill ride. However, there were times where the story was a bit in disarray, but the overall picture of the storyline was quite alright. Although, I didn't really enjoy the way the movie ended.

Set in an old hospital, the settings of "Psych 9" are really nice. Because you have a sense of abandonment to the movie, and also the sense of impending dread as the hospital is kind of scary in itself. And there was a lot of cool details. So thumbs up to this part of the movie.

As for the cast. Well, it was nice to see Cary Elwes (playing Dr. Clement) in this role. He has been doing some pretty interesting roles these last years. But also Sara Foster (playing Roslyn), she really did a good job with her role. She really came off as a troubled individual and she was phenomenal in this role. Michael Biehn (playing Det. Marling) only had a small role, but he was still a nice addition to "Psych 9". Gabriel Mann (playing Cole) was adequate, but not memorable.

Though being a horror movie, "Psych 9" is not really that scary. It is more of a psychological thriller with a couple of spooky moments thrown into the mix. But the movie works well enough with this mixture, just don't expect to be scared out of your seat.

Right from the start the makers of this movie succeed hands down in creating the perfect climate for a horror movie.

Outstanding camera work, lighting, set design, acting and direction all contribute to the unsettling atmosphere of a disturbed woman working alone at night in a deserted hospital with an unsavoury past.

Unfortunalty it goes on for much too long. After a while(of pretty much nothing happening) the silent halls and creaking lifts start to feel like home. You almost want to nip in and give her a hand with all that filing she is neglecting.

As the film trundles on I found myself willing something nasty to jump out and kill her or the coffee machine to run out of milk or anything of any note worthiness.

This is an excellently produced film, superbly executed and if you have a surplus of patience and don't expect any form of 'pay-off' this film may be for you; otherwise I'd check the rest of your DVD collection before sticking this one on.