Anxious to keep his asbestos removal business afloat, Gordon Fleming (Mullan) claims his crew can finish cleaning out a disused mental asylum in just one week, hoping to get a fat bonus at the end. Unfortunately, the local authorities aren�t aware exactly how bad things are with his business; two of the guys being at each other�s throats over a woman, another increasingly disinterested in his work and Flemings� young nephew a plain liability. The stress of keeping the group together is beginning to tell, and it seems his family life is suffering. Also, he�s not convinced that they are entirely alone in the old institution.
It�s a shame that Session 9 went straight to video. It has to be said that it is considerably better than most horrors, which are lazily aimed directly at the teen demographic. It sticks to the newly rediscovered concepts that 1) a slow build works best and 2) what you don�t see is scarier than what you do. So it initially comes across as Blair Witch does The Haunting (the original, not the terrible remake), which is no bad thing. The disused building is an unbelievably perfect location find, and the frequently amateurish camerawork is designed to keep the audience in the dark, often literally as natural lighting is used. All the cast are great; it�s interesting to think that if star David Caruso had done a script like this after NYPD Blue it would�ve been a sure-fire theatrical release. Although having said that, it probably would�ve been reworked into a sellout.
Unfortunately things start to fall apart a bit towards the end, with a little too much of The Shining thrown into the mix. Also, the use of the location is hit and miss, with the night and underground scenes being terrific but too many are shot during the daytime, which is obviously not as effective. Perhaps if the crew had been so desperate to get the job done that they spent a few nights on the job too, the real horror of the asylum could�ve been worked on more, with the hints at Silent Hill-style decaying lunacy a little more prominent. However, all this is slightly unfair criticism of a very well made low budget chiller, which you should search out before heading to see what studio picture has swamped the entire New Release section this week. |
