Review of Session 9 (2001) by Horcrux2007 — 09 Jul 2015

I found a list of "best ghost movies," and now I'm set for like the rest of the month. This ended up on that list, and while it's not exclusively a supernatural flick, I wasn't disappointed. Session 9 follows an asbestos cleaning crew as they work inside an abandoned mental hospital.

One of the characters, Mike, finds a collection of old tapes that chronicle sessions of Mary Hobbes, who has disassociative identity disorder. Each of her "personalities" mention a man named "Simon," who may be linked to a suppressed memory that Mary has.

Session 9 is a slow-burner; it builds up a dense atmosphere and sense of dread until the final act becomes exceptionally creepy and intense. It's much more unsettling than outright scary, and that's the perfect mood for this type of movie.

The tapes that Mike listens to are increasingly unnerving and create a lot of suspense as to who exactly "Simon" is. When "Simon" finally speaks in the 9th session, it's incredibly scary and memorable.

Along with an extremely talented cast, beautiful cinematography and an ambiguous ending that could create hours of discussion, Session 9 is a very creepy and atmospheric psychological horror film.