Rating: R
Genre:
Horror
Theatrical Release: 08/10/2001(USA
Release Date: 08/13/2002
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 101 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Not For Children, Profanity, Drug Content
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
Writer/director
Brad Anderson, known for whimsical romantic comedies like
Next Stop, Wonderland, was inspired by the astonishing, creepy visage of an abandoned mental hospital in Danvers, MA, to make the intense psychological horror film
Session 9. The film stars the redoubtable Scottish actor
Peter Mullan (from
Ken Loach's
My Name Is Joe) as
Gordon Fleming, a new father struggling to keep his asbestos removal company afloat. Desperate to bring in some money, the normally deliberate and careful
Gordon gets the contract by promising that his company can clear out the creepy deserted building in a week's time. Assisted by his right-hand man,
Phil (
David Caruso),
Gordon hires a crew and, pressed by the nearly impossible deadline, gets the hazardous work underway. But each man on the crew harbors a dangerous secret, and it's only a short time before the haunted atmosphere of the asylum -- where cruel and primitive means were used to control unstable patients -- begins to work its dark spell on them.
Session 9 was one of the first feature films shot using
Sony's 24P HD video, which shoots at 24 frames per second, like film, as opposed to the 30 frames per second of conventional video. The filmmakers used the same camera that
George Lucas would later use to film
Star Wars: Episode II. Using this technology,
Anderson and director of photography
Uta Briesewitz were able to produce the uniquely effective, deep-focus images in
Session 9 using mostly natural light.
~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
