THE REVEREND’S REVIEW

FT’s resident man of the cloth REVEREND PETER LAWS dons his dog collar and faces the flicks that Church forgot!

Session 9

Dir Brad Anderson, US 2001

Second Sight Films, £26.99 (Blu-ray)

Session 9 always turns up on those ‘Top Ten Horror Movies You Haven’t Seen’ lists. There’s definite kudos in that, but as one of the actors from the film points out (in the sumptuous extras on this set), knowing that barely anybody has seen your story is depressing. Hopefully this new release will help spread the dread, although I suspect this Limited Edition will be snapped up by the already converted.

That’s because Session 9 really is a great horror movie, which, once seen, drags the viewer back for repeated viewings. It’s 20 years old and yet the premise still feels fresh.

You won’t find any teenagers or paranormal investigators here. Our heroes are an asbestos removal company who win the clean-up contract on the abandoned Danvers State Mental Hospital. The team are under immense pressure – the boss, Gordon Fleming, snagged the contract on the promise they could finish in one week (it should take three). But is the growing stress just about work or are these men being influenced by a mentally toxic supernatural presence baked into the walls of the traumasoaked asylum?

Session 9 knocked my socks off first time around, and the second time, the socks were off again. This really is a uniquely unsettling film. The script is disturbing, the acting first rate and the sound design and score fast-track you into a state of high anxiety. It’s also got the best “F**k You!” moment in cinema.

However, the film’s real power comes from the location itself: an actual former asylum in Massachusetts. Danvers State Hospital opened in 1878 with a patient capacity of 450. By 1930, they’d crammed 2,000 in. It was described as the “birthplace of the prefrontal lobotomy”, and visitors would remark how patients would wander through the halls in a zombie-like daze. Changes in healthcare and concerns over the conditions led to its abandonment in 1992, and the huge building, with treatment rooms, baths, and a morgue, became a mecca for thrillseekers and horror film makers (the goofy Doom Asylum was also filmed here in 1987).

Yet Danvers is not vital to Session 9 in the way you might think. This isn’t just about how it looks on camera, but how the place made the cast and crew feel. The special features talk about its dark energy. Decades of scary, lonely, melancholy stories seem to have seeped into the film itself, so after watching it you may need to stock up on kitten videos as a mental detox. Stick with it, though, and you’ll be amazed that this intelligent and grown up “haunted house” movie passed so many people by.

Danvers was described as the “birthplace of the frontal lobotomy”