Session 9

Well, we're behind again. Yesterday's horror movie:

10/10: For today's horror movie I watched Brad Anderson's Session 9. I'd been hankerin' for a ghost movie so I gave this a look as it was on a bunch of lists of best ghost movies. The plot revolves around an asbestos removal crew that is sent into an abandoned insane asylum (the actual Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts, a real-life abandoned insane asylum where the movie filmed on location. It's pretty damn creepy) to clear it out for reconstruction. The crew's leader is tormented by the stresses of having a new child and must deal with the spirits (figurative) that exist within the asylums walls.

The movie is... alright. I don't know why it's so widely lauded as I really didn't get the hype. It's creepy and decent enough, but I didn't walk away feeling overly wowed. Session 9 takes a lot of it's pointers from The Shining in terms of the madness of the characters but definitely doesn't double down on the more haunted aspects; in fact, I would argue that Session 9 isn't a ghost/haunting movie at all. It has the creepiness, but not the story. 

What I think brings down this movie from being potentially great is twofold. One: David Caruso. I can't stand David Caruso. I guess you could say he...

drives me nuts. Get it? 'Cuz the movies in an insane asylum? Yeah, I know. That's a CSI: Miami level pun. 

All joking aside, the big reason this movie is brought down is how it's shot. As I began watching it I kept feeling like I was watching a movie that looked like a BBC documentary or a soap opera in the way the film looked. I looked it up and evidently Session 9 was one of the first movies shot on digital video and was shot in 24 frames per second, like film, and not 30 frames per second like most digital video. I'm not sure if this gives it the weird, almost too-real look but due to using this technology Anderson used mostly only real lighting. This sounds good on paper but in reality it makes the asylum look completely devoid of fear and atmosphere. Sure, the place is destroyed and creepy in that regard, but all the natural light removes the fear aspect that this amazing location could of had. It's amazing how much the look of a film can make it or break it but the off look of the film and the stale, emotionless lighting is what killed the movie the most for me. 

As for the story, the twist at the end is pretty decent and the characters (other than you David Caruso. Fuck you) are interesting and occasionally horrifying. Ultimately, though, Session 9 is a case of an amazing location wasted with mediocre cinematography. 

6.5/10