Search - Session 9 on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Not For Children, Profanity, Drug Content Movie Release: 2001 DVD Release: 02/26/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 40 mins Studio: Polygram USA Video Members Wishing: 18 Genres: Horror, Haunted House Film, Psychological Thriller See Also: Session 9

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

Peter Mullan - Gordon Fleming
David Caruso - Phil Cronenburg
Stephen Gevedon - Mike King
Josh Lucas - Hank Romero
Brendan Sexton III - Jeff Fleming
Paul Guilfoyle - Bill Griggs

A creepy abandoned mental hospital never looked so good as Danvers does in USA Entertainment's widescreen digital transfer of Session 9. The vaunted Sony 24P high-definition video that the movie was shot in never betrays itself, looking like a real "film" through every frame, except with sharper focus in the distance. The carefully constructed Dolby Digital soundtrack, with its industrial "room tones," offscreen drip, drip, drippings, and snarky use of different channels heightens the suspense of the thriller. The "Deleted Scenes" include outtakes of an entire subplot involving a homeless woman living in the asylum that, according to the commentary by director Brad Anderson and actor/screenwriter Stephen Gevedon, was deemed too confusing during post-production. The "Alternate Ending" chapter shows the filmmakers' good taste, as the alternate is a little too gruesome for the mood of the movie. A splendid on-set featurette that goes behind the scenes of the location called "The Haunted Palace" details the inspiration for the saga, and the "Story to Screen" chapter -- which splits the screen with the storyboards, the theatrical version, and footage shot from different angles, all explained in commentary by Anderson -- is perhaps the best supplement in this terrific package of a spell-binding mind game. ~ Buzz McClain, All Movie Guide