We’ve all heard the stories of old buildings that have been abandoned somewhere near where we live and the mystery around them. The idea there is a huge empty playground for us to go and cause havoc in because it may just be haunted too. There’s nothing creepier then when one of these buildings is an old insane asylum, just because of the eerie history and stories that surround them, and that’s what we get with Session 9, an old, empty insane asylum, and that’s creepy enough.
When an asbestos cleaning crew are sent into this old insane asylum to do some maintenance work, tension begins to rise between the long-term crew as the hospital’s dark past comes alive. Is it just the pressure of the job or is something darker, lurking in the shadows influencing the group and turning them against each other?
The man in charge, usually the ever-calm Gordon (Peter Mullan) is having issues at home with the stress of becoming a recent father and it’s spilling into his work. Phil (pre-Horatio Cain, David Caruso) has personal problems with Hank (Josh Lucas), who stole Phil’s girlfriend and enjoys nothing more than letting him know about it on a regular basis. Drop-out Law student Mike (Stephen Gevedon) is slumming it with the team and having reservations about his life decisions and the most normal of the group seems to be the new-comer, Gordon’s nephew Jeff (Brendan Sexton III). Initially they have three weeks to complete the job, but the on-edge Gordon makes a deal, if they do the job in the impossible time frame of a week, they get a $10,000 bonus. As soon as they begin work on the old abandoned asylum things get weird and creepy, mostly because working in an old asylum would be weird and creepy. Mike goes into an old room full of records and recordings and becomes engrossed in one particular story of a past patients, listening to the old sessions her doctor recorded. Hank, meanwhile finds a stash of old and very valuable coins, and decides to keep it a secret from the gang, keeping all the spoils for himself. But when he goes back to get the coins late one night alone, that’s when the creepy things begin to happen and it’s a question of who or what is doing this.
Session 9 is one of those films that you can’t help but wonder how you’ve never even heard of it before. The film is thirteen years old and still doesn’t seem to be a known film unless you’re seeking out underrated and under-appreciated horrors, which this certainly is. The film begins to build tension nicely, actually quite soon into the running time and you’re constantly on edge waiting for something creepy to happen. With that you’re soon cowering because you’re at the mercy of the film, it patiently chooses when to throw you something nervy and it can come in an instant and without warning, mostly because due to the backdrop of the film lending a helping hand and the superb acting of Mullan with his long and vacant stares. The mood changes between the friends and you can’t decide if perhaps they’re losing it or maybe a darker supernatural force is at work, somehow influencing them. It’s all very clever and well done, keeping you guessing at every turn, never giving you a chance to fully figure it out.
All the way until the end, Session 9 doesn’t reveal its cards and even when it does, it still results in keeping consistent with the eeriness of the whole film. It doesn’t quite explain all the actions but that’s what makes horrors scarier and more sinister, when there seemingly aren’t answers for the actions in which we witness.
Rating: Session 9 is a gem of a horror that really needs to get more recognition and exposure because it genuinely scares and terrifies (6/10).
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