Rish Outfield's reviews
I saw this in a double feature with The Others in a run-down theater, and while it was not a pleasant film (I've attended more joyous funerals), I was glad I was able to see it. Not a lot of people did. What attention the film received (I don't believe it was widely released) was due to the fact that it was shot on digital video, a landmark, apparently. It didn't appear cheap or shoddy, however.
Session 9 shows us what happens when a team of men works to remove asbestos and such from a dilapidated mental institution. The five characters are as follows: 1. In financial trouble, has a sick baby, injured his leg. 2. Lost his girlfriend to another man in the group. 3. Dropped out of law school after one year. 4. Greedy, something of a jerk. 5. Has Nictophobia, fear of the dark. Got it? The team experiences a lot of pressure to get the job done quickly and simply, but things don't go quite as well as planned. Far from it, in fact.
A flick this quite reminded me of was the 1998 version of Nightwatch, which had a first half that was so scary it was nearly unbearable, but a second half so virtually scare-free as to seem like a different movie. This wasn't quite so drastic as all that, but there were parts in the first hour that had me holding my breath, waiting for the inevitable shock to come. Oddly enough, they didn't come. There weren't the sort of cheap and easy scares we're so used to in Horror in this film. This locale is absolutely terrifying, and one of the things the filmmakers need to be praised for is by setting the majority of the scares during the day. Kudos, especially since many of them still worked.
Quite an unpleasant movie, Session 9 basically takes place over a five day work week, but by Friday, it has veered somewhat, and become confusing and surreal. I think a lot of viewers will find this film tremendously slow, and in retrospect, it probably did have too much dialogue and could have used a shave. But it was very well-written, and very atmospheric, along with a certain unpredictability that might also turn off a lot of Horror fans. We are greatly manipulated, though, by being shown certain actions and reactions to lead us to a very misleading conclusion. I guess that's fair, but still...
I'd Recommend It To: Well, that's a hard question. It's not a crowd-pleaser, and I don't know if it would be as scary on video. Still, if the premise intrigues you, give it a shot.
Note: This is the first film we've reviewed for the site (to my knowledge, anyway) that has no women in it. There are a couple in the periphery of the story, but none are really characters, and that's unusual.
Note 2: This is one of the two most difficult Threats I ever had to ascertain (the other being a film, Only Darkness, that turned out not to have a threat). On the long, rainy drive home from the theater, I tried to decide what I would credit as the villain behind this piece (without giving too much away, of course), and it's still hard. Like some other movies, I had to make a choice, a choice what to believe, a choice as to what it all meant. So I chose Haunted Mental Institution rather than the specific Threats I was bandying about. If you disagree, start your own website.