Session 9 (Road to Halloween)

Here we are people! It's day two of my October reviews. After listening to the Screened podcast; as I do every week, I was intrigued by their mention of a film called "Session 9". It stars one of Scotland's more famous actors, Peter Mullan. Needless to say I got a hold of the film and made sure that it was going to be one of my films to review on my countdown to Halloween.

The story involves a group of men who are looking to pick up the contract to remove all of the asbestos from an abandoned insane asylum. I hear you cry, "We have heard this all before!" This may be true, but what the film lacks in originality, it certainly makes up for in tension. The cast consists of Peter Mullan, Josh Lucas and a pre-CSI: Miami, David Caruso. As the group begin the work, pressure runs high on the men due to personal problems and the difficulty of the work. One of the group discovers a series of tapes documenting the Sessions a former patient under went. As you hear more and more of the tapes, things become extremely tense. When one of the team members goes missing, this seems to be the final straw. The tension builds up into nearly unbearable amounts, and then let's you down with a hell of an ending.

The acting in the film is fairly strong, with an angst filled performances from Peter Mullan. I was never a great fan of David Caruso; more than likely due to his regular acting on CSI. However, he really does a great job of playing the straight and narrow character. The others do a fine job in maintaining the illusion of the film. Nobody breaks character, which adds to the list of things I like about this film.

If you are looking for something a little bit different, a little light on scares and high on intrigue and mystery, I think that "Session 9" is for you. It held my interest from the first to the last minute. In the end I had to wonder where the time went and found myself applauding at my TV. Bravo! A better breed of horror than the usual jump-fests that occupy you cinema now. You have to see this if you like psychological horror!

Rating 4 out of 5

See it if you liked:
Mirrors
Silent Hill

What does IMDB say?

Review by Stephen King