SESSION 9

Not to indicate faults in a disapproving way, but Session 9 was the movie that I enjoyed the least in Art of the Cinema this semester. Directed by Brad Anderson, this film is about a construction crew who are getting paid to fix up an abandoned mental hospital that closed in 1984. Despite the fact that the hospital is already creepy enough because of the random    

location, the asylum begins to affect the main character, Gordon, and make him crazy. To be absolutely honest, the reason why this movie was my least favorite was because I had no idea what was going on in the plot and still had no idea by the end of the movie. I don’t think the story line was very effective at all.

                In class we’ve talked about labeling movies good/bad and Session 9 just didn’t have any motivation or effectiveness. At the insane asylum Mike finds old tapes of recordings from a past patient that had multiple personalities. As he begins to uncover the truth, by the time he reaches Session 9 of the tapes, Gordon is completely consumed by his hatred toward his newborn.  

                The theme of Session 9 is dealing with the darkness within us all. Searching for this theme was really difficult just because of the storyline. As for the production of the film, there are many scenes that are well manipulated and edited to fit the overall sinister mood. The style and intensity is established through the close-up head shots of the characters to show just how eerie a mental hospital is suppose to be. I was drawn into the movie by the slow character development, secretly hoping my questions about why Gordon was so dreary would be answered. The dark lighting throughout the film gives it a more definite horror feeling. I’m not much of a horror film fanatic, but the soundscapes do tend to capture an overall cold lonely feeling and I think that’s what Anderson was going for.