SESSION 9

It was a place you never got comfortable in. It wasn't like day three and we were throwing water balloons because it was so much fun to be there. It was always scary. You can really feel the pain of the people that went through Danver's. It's a rough environment. It's not fun. It's on the film. They didn't have to dress any sets, or anything. All of that stuff was sitting there. The federal government walked away from it about thirty years ago. It was a terrifying location.

-BRAD ANDERSON, DIRECTOR

A tale of terror when a group of asbestos removal workers start work in an abandoned insane asylum. The complex of buildings looms up out of the woods like a dormant beast. Grand, imposing ... abandoned, deteriorating. The residents of Danvers, Massachusetts steer well clear of the place. But Danver's State Mental Hospital, closed down for 15 years, is about to receive five new visitors...

If you are a fan of learning about movies production, this movie is packed with endless stories and details to fixate on. and speaking of which... did you know that Session 9 was director Brad Anderson's first horror film after directing two romantic comedy films, Next Stop Wonderland (1998) and Happy Accidents (2000). It was also one of the first movies shot in digital video, which shoots at 24 frames-per-second like film, as opposed to regular digital video which shoots at 30 frames-per-second. i only mention that because it gives the whole movie a kind of beautiful fluid motion that is damn near hypnotizing, and every small detail of this movie just make that feeling even stronger. the soundtrack, the camera work, the lighting, even when this movie is totally silent its constantly got a lovely feeling of paranoia and uncertainty i love to marinate in.

a lot of the reason this movie works so well is the strength of its characters. a lot like King's GRAVEYARD SHIFT, its one of the best depictions of normal working class people i have seen in a long time. at no point does this movie feel like anyone is reading from a script or acting in any way, and the slower pacing of this movie really adds to the feeling of stumbling onto a job site that just so happens to have some spooky shit slowly creeping in. and as much as i love the spooky shit, its this movies humanity that makes it the masterpiece that it is.

its exactly the way these type of movies need to be done, and its undeniably one of my favorite movies in any genre.

don't even come near me with that GHOST SHIP bullshit. the early 2000s has so much more to offer.

10/10