Ep 142 - SESSION 9 (2001) at 25 - Dread, Danvers, and "Do it, Gordon."

SESSION 9 (2001) d. Brad Anderson (USA) Tonight we're talking about 2001's Session 9, director/co-writer Brad Anderson's exceedingly tense tale of a five-man asbestos removal team tackling cleanup duty at an inactive mental asylum. When lawyer-in-training Steven Gevedon (who co-wrote the intelligent script) discovers a collection of audio recordings of patient sessions, a haunting dual storyline develops between the events on the abandoned reel-to-reel tapes and the blue-collar crew's increasing stress with the job and with each other. In addition, the not-quite-dead building has a few secrets hidden within its dark corners. Part character study, part haunted house tale, Anderson and his team adroitly foster an increasingly claustrophobic mood with clues and red herrings thicker than the dust from the moldering ceilings. Skillfully diverting our attentions with cinematic sleight-of-hand, Anderson plays his audience like a maestro, delivering one surprising payoff after another. The location shooting (within the abandoned confines of Danvers State Hospital) offers a palpable dread along with the mildew and grime of years of neglect. One of the first features shot on High-Def 24p video, Session 9 is a wonder of economical independent filmmaking, floating its haunting sound design over oodles of B-roll to marvelously atmospheric effect. The fact that it works as well as it does is a testament to the players, with Scottish actor Peter Mullan a simmering kettle of repressed anger as the stressed-out crew boss, ably matched by David Caruso, who does the macho-aggressive stare about as well as anyone. Josh Lucas, Brendan Sexton III, Paul Guilfoyle, and Larry Fessenden round out the small and able ensemble. Join AC and his incredible panel of guests (Jenn Adams, John W. Bowen, Cati Glidewell, Carl Lyon, Jordy Sirken) as we look back at Session 9, a rock-solid psychological chiller that continues to surprise and spook 25 years later. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- JENN ADAMS is a writer and podcaster from Nashville, TN. She co-hosts The Loser's Club: A Stephen King Podcast, The Lady Killers: A Feminine Rage Podcast, Murder Made Fiction, and The Girls on The Boys. She is a contributor and columnist for Bloody Disgusting, Rue Morgue and Dread Central and creator of the Strong Female Antagonist blog. JOHN W. BOWEN has been a columnist, reviewer and feature writer for Rue Morgue magazine since 1999, and has also written sporadically for more (...cough...) "civilized" publications, including the Kingston Whig-Standard, The Toronto Star and Kingston Life Magazine. Born in Dallas and raised in Kingston, Ontario, he is also a professional musician and recovering strip club DJ. CATI GLIDEWELL (aka The Blonde in Front) is a Chicago-based film critic, lifelong cinephile, film festival jury member, and a member of Chicago Indie Critics since 2020. You can find her on all social media platforms, as well as Post Mortem radio and Radio of Horror on YouTube. CARL LYON is a veteran of Monsters at Play and FEARNET, and will occasionally slip his shackles and terrorize the villagers with his ramblings. He also likes LEGO. JORDY SIRKEN is the horror-obsessed critic behind Jordy Reviews It (jordyreviewsit.com). Slashers, creature features, paranormal haunts, and everything in between, she's an avid fan of the macabre, and a HUGE enthusiast of practical effects. Since 2015, she's been reviewing genre films and is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic. You can follow her on Instagram and TikTok at @jordyreviewsit --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keep Searching, Keep Exploring, and, most of all, Keep Sharing the Scare!