Psych:9

"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.

Psych:9 (2010)

3 out of 10 stars Time to Read: 2:05 min

BASIC PLOT: Roslyn (Sara Foster) is starting a new job at a hospital that's closing down. She's going through, and transferring medical records, as part of the closure. There's only two other people on the grounds, Dr. Irvin Clement (Cary Elwes), who's upstairs, doing the same job, in the psych unit, and a creepy security guard (Ryan James), in a shack out front.

At the same time, a serial killer known as "the Night Hawk", has been killing blonde women all over town.

Detective Marling (Michael Biehn), has been assigned the Night Hawk case, and appears to have suspicions about the identity of the killer.

Cole (Gabriel Mann) is Rosyln's husband, who drives a cab.

There's not much of a story, just a bunch of characters, bumbling around in an old hospital.

WHAT WORKS: *AWESOME OPENING SEQUENCE There's a cool opening, using Rorschach ink blots, with faces in them. It's the best part of the whole movie.

*GREAT ATMOSPHERIC The setting was coming through the screen, and the feeling of it was awful! I don't know if it was a set, or an actual building, but it had an ominous aura. The location was disturbing, and it got to you. It really added to the ambience of the movie.

*THE LIGHTERS ARE A GOOD VISUAL METAPHOR They let you know fire is important, a metaphor for history, insanity and cleansing.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: *I HATE THESE WOMEN who marry children, nag them, gripe about them, and then are surprised when they cheat, or act a fool. This is a personal preference, but I hate these types of relationships in movies and on TV. You knew he was an idiot when you married him, don't gripe about it.

*THE GREEN FILTER IS DISTRACTING l know they are going for an industrial feel, but it's too much. It takes away from the amazing visuals the filming location provides, and that's about all this movie has going for it.

*MICHAEL BIEHN IS WASTED IN THIS MOVIE Michael Biehn, who plays Detective Marling, is wasted here. His character is pointless, goes nowhere, and it feels like he was cast, just so his name could be on the credits (his name made me watch). This flawed script throws his character away, and it's such a shame. When he's on the screen, he steals the show.

*THERE'S NO STORY There tries to be one, but it makes no sense. There was something about childhood sexual abuse, crazy parents, paranoia, and a baby. That's about all I got from this movie. It's not engaging, or even interesting, and certainly NOT entertaining. There are lots of disturbing shots of a disused hospital, but even that is destroyed by the overuse of the green filter.

Several different renderings could have been chosen to advance the story, but instead, there are just more missed opportunities. We could have seen through the disturbed person's eyes, this technique was attempted (I think), but it's so jumbled, it doesn't work. A depiction of that nature works, only when you have a stable, grounding character, that represents reality. Detective Marling (Michael Biehn) should have been given this role, but instead, he's only given a few minutes of screen time. Without that grounding influence, all you're left with is a haphazard melange of disjointed imagery, and ideas. The viewer cannot tell delusion from reality, so no story forms into anything resembling a cohesive plot

TO RECOMMEND, OR NOT TO RECOMMEND, THAT IS THE QUESTION: *The film ventures into strange territory with its attempts at allegories and symbolism, but these efforts lead nowhere, and fail to provide a clear point. It had good actors, who were wasted. It had a cool location, that was wasted. The interesting opening was about all this movie had to offer. I'd skip it, there are better creepy atmospherics out there. Try Session 9 (2001) instead.

CLOSING NOTES: *I HAVE NO CONNECTION TO THE FILM, or production in ANY way. I am just an honest viewer, who wishes for more straight forward reviews (less trolls and fanboys), and better entertainment. Hope I helped you out.

Okay - to start: Carey Elwes is the man. I absolutely love him and he is the reason I watched this.

This movie? Where to begin? The sets were good and the effects were good as well. The plot? I wasn't sure what was actually supposed to be going on through a lot of it. It was part mystery, part slasher, part psychological horror, part ghost story, part... get my drift? There was a whole lot going on here and it got pretty confusing.

Also - what is up with the absolutely detestable characters in films like this? Was I supposed to like either of the lead couple? She was a shrieking harpy and I was frankly hoping someone would just put her out of her misery. The husband? Well, he was kind of a butt as well. I really didn't care for either of them - therefore I could have cared less if they were brutally slain. Kind of bad when these are the lead characters in a film.

I wanted to like this film, I really did. Promise.

But I didn't.

"Psych 9" is a horror film about an unstable woman,Working alone at night in a recently closed hospital, who witnesses events that may be connected to a string of murders sloughing the streets at night. To uncover the truth she will have to revisit the past behind the walls of Psych:9.

This starred Sara Foster,I was unsure who this was book the trailer looked cool and I thought Id watch.

Sadly this film leaves many questions. It leaves viewers pretty confused at the end as well, I am not sure if its one of the films where you decide for yourselves what happened, but it was too confusing. Another bad part of the film is the beginning. It starts off OK but takes a good 30 minutes to get going which could get the viewer bored and even turn it off. This is supposed to be a horror but its a psychological film, it has been labelled wrong. overall its getting 4/10

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.