Session 9 Blu-ray Review
Simon says.
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, September 13, 2016
It's a good thing that co-writer and director Brad Anderson admits that
The
Shining bears certain similarities if not outright inspirational sparks for
Session 9, for the parallels between the films are
obvious
and
almost palpable at times. Decaying monstrosity of a building in an isolated location? Check. Chances that said building is haunted by former
denizens?
Check. Seemingly mild mannered
nebbish type probably going over to the dark side due to those very denizens?
Ooooh, yeah,
baby.
In this case,
Session 9 actually utilizes a real life historical structure, the imposing Danvers State Insane Asylum (which had a number
of
slightly variant names through the years) in Danvers, Massachusetts,
unlike the fictional Overlook Hotel in the Stephen King saga (though fans of the film will know that my home state of Oregon's iconic Timberline
Lodge
was used for exterior locations for that version). Danvers has a rather redolent if disturbing history tracing back to the 19th century, and it's
rumored
to
have been the birthplace of the pre-frontal lobotomy, but as someone who had to investigate the history of lobotomies as part of my research
into
actress
Frances Farmer (who was falsely rumored to have
undergone a
transorbital
lobotomy), I can say that that allegation is at least debatable. One way or the other, the Danvers (which was torn down a few years after
Session
9 was filmed there in its decaying ruins) provides a spectacularly Gothic setting for this often unsettling film, one which is rather short on
any
gore
factor but which rather smartly exploits a properly psychological angle that is filled to the brim with foreboding and angst. Aside from one really
curious
and completely avoidable semi-reveal early in the film, one which will give away the ghost (so to speak) to anyone who's really paying attention,
Session 9 builds to a nicely baroque climax where indeed at least a bit of a gore factor finally intrudes.
Gordon (Peter Mullan) and Phil (David Caruso) are co-workers at an abestos abatement company that is bidding on such a service for the
Danvers
Mental Hospital. As the film opens, the two are in a van awaiting the arrival of a site foreman, and the two are discussing the recent birth of
Gordon's
baby, something that is both a joy and a challenge (as any parent of a newborn will attest). There's a bit of tension between Gordon and Phil
that is evidenced in how they approach the bid, but it's obvious that Gordon is the big kahuna, and in a private moment with the hospital site
superintendent
(whom he evidently knows), he basically begs for the contract. The film then gets into a day by day assessment (shades of
The Shining
again)
of the asbestos abatement team's "progress" at the hospital. Meanwhile, a very brief sequence detailing Gordon's home life with his wife and
newborn
baby seems to suggest all is not domestic bliss.
The other team members include Gordon's slacker nephew Jeff (Brendan Sexton III), who has a debilitating fear of the dark (think that might
play
into
the plot?), Mike (Stephen Gevedon, also a co-writer) who was once a promising law student and whose Attorney General father once was
involved in
a
notorious case involving Danvers, and Hank (Josh Lucas), who has an acrimonious relationship with Phil due to having "stolen" Phil's girlfriend
from
him
sometime in the past. All of these details are doled out rather artfully, often in very brief but telling asides that quickly give the viewer context
and a
nice feel for how the guys interact with each other.
While Kubrick's film of King's novel is sometimes decried for being too languid in some ways and then too gonzo in others, there's a rather
steady pace
throughout
Session 9 that actually hints at terror rather than revealing it outright. There's
something sinister going on in the
dank
(asbestos incrusted) hallways of Danvers, but it's not clear what exactly there is to fear. Mike gets detoured when he goes to investigate a
circuit
breaker tripping (cue creepy music) and finds an old storeroom where an evidence box contains tapes of a long ago patient who evidently
suffered
from multiple personality disorder. The film's title in fact is culled from the series of tapes of "sessions" with the hospital's psychiatrist that are
memorialized on the quaint old reel to reel tapes.
Meanwhile, though, a number of other bizarre happenings have been cropping up. Hank finds his own detour when a series of valuable old coins
he
discovers on a
basement floor lead to a wall
stuffed full of them (a wall which backs to a creepy locale reveal which won't be spoiled here). Gordon
seems
to be
hearing voices, voices who know his name. And Jeff, well, is afraid of the dark. With some nicely orchestrated tracking and dolly shots (the
camera
work is fairly peripatetic throughout the film),
Session 9 builds suspense in little increments rather than in huge swooping startle shots.
The film does ultimately go for the jugular, so to speak, but rather late in the game, after a full gamut of mind games has unfolded. The
ultimate
reveal here is really no huge surprise, especially due to that aforementioned early reveal, not to mention a couple of others that Anderson at
least
attempts to cloak in blink or you'll miss them montages. That tricky style gambit might have been better left on the cutting room floor, for
without
these little "clues" sprinkled throughout the film,
Session 9 might have even increased its already palpable creepiness. While I'm not
sure a
rigorously logical analysis of this film's finer plot points is really possible,
Session 9's mood is nicely oppressive, and the Danvers State
Insane
Asylum is a wonderful supporting character in its own right.
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