Rating: 
Summary: a genuinely creepy film that stays with you
Review: a scary film for people who think
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Thriller
Review: "Session 9" was one of the best thrillers I've seen in a long time. Pointless gore and screaming at a minimum, with character development making us actually care about the people in the story, and subtle nuances making the movie excellent and disturbing at the same time. Everything said or done in the movie, right down to the movie's title, pointed to the climax. I loved how, upon watching it again, I found many clues that I hadn't noticed before. My only complaint with the DVD is that there is no full screen version of the movie included.
Rating:
Summary: Session 9 good film worth viewing
Review: Session 9 was an intense relentlessly terrifying film. The movie takes place in an abandonded insane Asylum. Four workers take on the project of restoring the place before a one week dead line. Many of the men working on the project desperately need the money making this job stressful and tiring. During the film the viewer begins to question the sanity of two of the characters in the film. We don't find out until the end if the old institution is causing psychological problems in the men are if one of the men are simply crazy to begin with. The film is shot with a different kind of film(Not like most films are shot these days) I don't now the technical term for it but its almost has a high quality handheld camera feeling. The music in the movie is really creepy and helps make some of the scene's scare factor go up. Though most of the film relies on mostly pychological terror there is some gore towards the end. The movie was well acted and the characters were believable. In short this is a good movie with some scenes that are very terrifing and disturbing with a ending that is both surprising and frightning. This is Definantly not a film for the faint of heart.
Rating: 
Summary: MANIPULATIVE AND MINDLESS "THRILLER"
Review: This overrated film suffers from a lack of cohesion and misleading subplots that add nothing to the film. For instance, the title SESSION 9 would make you think this mysterious session captured on reel to reel is at the heart of the movie. Ultimately, it's a Macguffin, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the movie. It's extremely slow paced and by the time something happens, it's hopelessly underdone. I can't fault the actors; they did their best with this stinker script. Peter Mullan, Josh Lucas and even David Caruso do their best, but it's a sinking ship me lads.
As for the "deleted scenes," who in the heck was this old lady running around? Can see why these scenes were deleted. Maybe the whole script should have been deleted and redone.
If you must see, rent. Don't buy---the 2 stars if for the acting and some of the eerie photography.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbing thriller cause shudders,but too long in the tooth
Review: Actually only 3 1/2 stars, but I'm giving the benefit of the doubt. Fifteen years ago, the Psychiatric Hospital on the hill was closed and 2400 patients transferred or let loose. Now it is time to clean up the building, and Gordon Fleming barely manages to get the bid, promising almost impossibly quick results in order to save his business. Gordon and his friend Phil hire extra men to get the job done, including Hank, who is dating Phil's ex-girlfriend and does not mince words with Phil about it. Our crew is filled in with Bill and Jeff, who is Gordon's young nephew. The old buildings are now graffiti ridden, dangerous with water damage and heavy with asbestos. During their original tour, Gordon hears a voice speaking to him from down the hallway of ward C, the ward reserved for the most dangerous of patients. Delving immediately into the huge project, we catch glimpses of each character and see their responses to the eerie environment of their job. Bill runs across some old tapes of a long dead female patient, labeled Sessions 1-9, and begins listening to them. She had multiple personalities, and the more Bill listens, the more disturbed he becomes. Hank finds a treasure in the wall that enclosed the old crematorium, and abruptly leaves both his job and his girlfriend to go to a casino school in Florida, but young Jeff finds him stalking the grounds of the asylum, and after that things get really weird. Without revealing anything further about the movie, let me tell you what I liked and disliked about it.
What I liked was the spectacular scenery, stunningly beautiful footage of the old hospital, and deeply sinister shots of its rotting interior. Location was used to astounding effect, providing one of the chilliest atmospheres I have ever seen. Add to that some eerie tunnels with only flashlights for lighting, sunlight streaming hazily through dirty windows, amazing cinematography utilizing the shoot scene to its fullest. Not to mention a creepy storyline of bad things happening in a bad place, and stellar acting by David Caruso and supporting cast. What I didn't like was that the development was too slow for true terror to strike me, there was too much filler dialogue and too many scenes with nothing important happening. The movie could have been tightened down quite a bit without loosing the magnificent photogenic effects, almost as if not quite enough film hit the editing floor. With 100 minutes not being a long movie, this particular story might have been a better effort at 90 minutes, cutting the dribble here and there that left me starving for the tastier parts. It's possible that I'm just too jaded for this type of experiment, but I failed to feel any real threat...no tantalizing shiver for my safety and well-being. Too loosely does the movie travel until we finally see any form of evil, and in that I found it to be a bit fatiguing instead of intriguing. Still, its chilling atmosphere makes up a great deal for the drudgery, and you will want to stick around and find out what Simon has to say. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Predictable film, unforgettable locale
Review: The 2001 psychological thriller "Session 9" is, quite simply, a character study. This small, independent film generated a nice buzz and it's not difficult to see why many enjoy its creepy allure. "Session 9" is certainly not a horror classic, but it's not a bad film either. An unusual atmosphere and a handful of terrific performances boost this little chiller, but a muddled screenplay and a predictable ending place this in the realm of an above average "Night Gallery" episode. A motley cleanup crew is hired to remove asbestos from a huge, abandonded asylum - an extraordinarily creepy building with dark tunnels, eerie metal tables and barred rooms decorated with the unsettling graffiti of past patients. The crew arrives, among them David Caruso, Peter Mullan and Josh Lucas, and each is carrying their own load of mental baggage. From failed relationships to domestic abuse, these men are haunted by the stress of messy lives. Mixed with the rigors of the job and the growing menace of the weird location, they begin to crack in small, uncomfortable ways. I like the performances of Caruso and Mullan, two excellent actors. As longtime comrades, their characters eventually begin to distrust one another, and group stability collapses. Caruso should be applauded for continuing to do interesting work in small films such as this. For the most part, he's survived the "NYPD Blue" blunder, and his work in "Session 9" is earnest. The location work of "Session 9" is incredible. Reportedly filmed at an abandonded hospital in Maryland, the set itself is so realistic that it could only be an actual site. It's too bad the filmmakers didn't have the screenplay to back it up. Hazy and frustrating, the story stumbles along while utilizing confusing flashbacks and a hidden tape of a patient with split personalities. I suppose comparisons to "The Blair Witch Project" (isolated people cracking under the pressure) and "The Shining" (isolated people in a creepy building) are accurate. But "Session 9" is not as good as either one of those films. I respect director Brad Anderson for essentially carting a handful of actors to a remote spot and creating a well-acted little chiller. Undoubtedly the locale is unforgettable, but the film is disappointingly predictable.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Believe The Hype!!!!!
Review: OK, This movie has gotten an average of 4 stars. DON'T FALL FOR IT! This movie STINKS!!!!! I made the mistake of purchasing the DVD after constant raves by friends and the majority of Amazon reviews. I guess I was too lazy to go out and rent it..I could have saved 15 bucks! I was expecting something like "The Ring" or "The 6th Sense," but this movie is far from their league. I was expecting to get creeped out, but I spent most of my WASTED time WAITING for something to happen! I'm just surprised that I didn't fall asleep like some of the more right-on reviewers of this movie. You may not agree, but I do urge anyone to RENT before you decide to buy this one. HUGE disappointment!
Rating:
Summary: Long Overdue Psychological Horror Masterpiece
Review: Not since Roman Polanski's Repulsion has a psychological or, in this case, psychiatric masterpiece come down the pike. Session 9 is brilliant on all fronts but most appealing to me was the journey, initially gentle and subtle, we take with the characters into the old deserted mental hospital and on to the horrors we all knew existed and remain still.
Rating:
Summary: A week at the Haunted Palace...
Review: Session 9 is an example of a horror thriller. It has little in common with horror films like Jeepers Creepers where buckets of gore are used in place of imagination. Director Brad Anderson and his outstanding ensemble cast create a tension filled movie that has more in common with Nicholas Roeg's Don't Look Now and Kubrick's The Shining than most contemporary horror thrillers. Perhaps that's the difference--this is a thriller not really a horror film. Although the film was shot on high definition 24 frame per second digital video, it's almost impossible to spot the difference on this DVD between that and film. The Danvers Mental Hospital has been vacant since 1985. A 5 man crew from Hazman Elimination Company has made a low bid to clean out the place of asbestos tile and old insulation. In a bid to make their 1 week completion date, the owner of the company has arranged for a $10,000 bonus to be paid to all the crew if they can finish it within 7 days. Since it's really a two week job, these guys have their work cut out for them. It doesn't help that old ghosts loom large in the background and disturb their work. What they don't know can hurt them; evidently a multiple personality patient by the name of Mary was housed there. One of the reasons why the place was closed down was because of accusations from the doctors on staff and legal action they took. Budget cuts and a losing court case closed the sprawling Victorian style building down. Led by a strong ensemble cast featuring David Caruso (CSI:Miami, NYPD Blue) and Josh Lucas (The Hulk, Sweet Home Alabama), Session 9 is an excellent example of what imagination and skill can accomplish without buckets of gore. The film isn't without flaws. The plotting becomes a bit lazy towards the conclusion but, on the whole, the film is an outstanding effort. Anderson does an excellent job in building considerable tension throughout the picture and the strong cast (actor Stephen Gevedon co-wrote the script with Anderson) only increases the tension and level of conflict between the characters. The extras include an alternate ending, (which featured a dropped subplot that didn't quite mesh with the film) and deleted scenes. There's also an interesting commentary by the director (the film was actually shot at an old Mental Hospital so Anderson's comments are really interesting) as well as the theatrical trailer and a featurette on the mental hospital entitled The Haunted Palace. Never gruesome but always suspenseful, Session 9 is a great way to spend a chilly, rainy evening on a Friday night. Be warned, though that there is some bad langauge in the film so it isn't suitable for preteens.
Rating:
Summary: Perfect for Halloween!!!
Review: This is a very very good movie!!! It's creepy and entertaining throughout. It's a mystery, thriller, and a horror movie all rolled into one. The story revolves around a 5 member cleaning crew (headed by David Caruso and Peter Mullan) who are hired to work at an abandoned insane asylum by the new owners of the property. Tensions build as the men are forced to face an enemy that is all around them creating a feeling of strong paranoia. The asylum is like a living entity all of its own adding to the already horrific circumstances. The place just keeps getting creepier and creepier. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who is looking for a change in the horror genre. It is well acted and cleverly written. This was a very pleasant surprise!!!
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