Session 9 (2001)

A creepy abandoned mental hospital. David Caruso. Asbestos. I'm already shivering. Session 9 had been sitting in my Netflix queue for over a year so I finally gave in and settled down for an early morning creep-fest. I drew the shades and turned up the volume, slowly sipping my coffee as I was drawn in… to sleep?

A group of asbestos removal experts are called in to clean out the Danvers Mental Hospital and while checking the circuit breaker one of the characters happens upon a box marked evidence. He pulls out a set of nine audio recordings from the 70s that detail one of the patients with multiple personality disorder, finds an old reel-to-reel player nearby (how convenient), and proceeds to listen. These sessions frame the entire movie and slowly introduce us to Simon, one of the personalities that refuses to wake up.

When I say slowly, I mean really slow. I was getting pretty wired from my coffee but I almost dozed off a few times because nothing much happens for long stretches. It's not for lack of atmosphere… the director seems to be trying too hard with every shot and every exchange of dialogue. He keeps coming back to the threat of what the Simon personality represents, but the story of this particular patient just isn't that interesting. The actors try their best and I can't fault any of their performances, but they seem held back by the pacing both as a whole and from scene to scene.

Session 9 isn't a bad movie by any means, it's just that it never quite finds it's footing enough to decide how it wants to scare you, and thus never really does.