Review of Session 9 (2001) by Dan Y — 18 Jul 2010

"Hello, Gordon.".

That is how Session 9's psychological merry go round begins after Gordon Fleming and his old friend Phil enter the abandoned psychiatric hospital to see what kind of asbestos cleaning job awaits them. Due to the size of the job, Gordon brings in Hank, Mike and his own nephew Jeff in an effort to make the one week deadline and receive a hefty bonus from the town which has contracted their services.

As with many horror/mind job movies, things seem standard, but after a half hour you begin to wonder when the action, when the horror will kick in. Session 9 is not that type of movie, it's a slow builder than will needle at you when you least expect it, culminating in pure terror as the truth of the madness is revealed. This mental hospital may be abandoned, but it's haunted past is akin to a predator waiting for its prey. The origin of the film's title will send a chill down your spine.

This is how a horror movie is supposed to be. None of that idiotic behavior, no cheap thrills with some CG rendered monster or cheap costume with fake blood. Instead it is all in the mind, and filming on location at such a creepy old building with its decaying walls, overturned wheel chairs and eerie 'treatment' rooms beats the hell out of the best computer created environment possible. Nothing is better than the real thing, and nothing but the real thing can suffice when it comes to scaring the living hell out of a viewer. Watch this at night, during the day, at 8 AM, it doesn't matter. You *will* be freaked. You *will* be speechless at the end. Now that's an effective movie, people.