Session 9 had everything that a classic psychological thriller could ask for. A great 
script, stunning locale, loads of scares, great actors, solid buzz, and a very able
young director. What it didn't have, however, was an audience. The film, while a 
critical success and festival darling, had lousy distribution and didn't make a dent 
at the box office. So now, it is Session 9's time to find an audience on DVD, or, more
succinctly, for said audience to find IT!

Session 9 is named for one tape in a group of recorded therapy sessions uncovered
by a member of a HAZMAT  team who are sent in to de-lead a condemned mental 
hospital in Massachussets. The crew, led by Gordon (Mullan) and his foreman Phil
(Caruso) are working under a very tight schedule after Gordon promises the general
contractors a quick and thorough job for a $10,000.00 bonus if he gets it done in one
week. Gordon has just had a baby and is desperate for the money, so, while his crew
protests quietly, they can see the amount of stress their kind hearted boss is under
and bit their collective lips. 

Mike (co-writer Gevendon), a law-school drop-out who now works for Gordon, discovers
a box of tapes and photographs of a patient named Mary Hobbes, and he is instantly
drawn into her world through the recorded sessions. As Mike digs deeper into Mary's 
case, strange things begin to happen in the abandoned building, and in the lives of the 
members of Gordon's crew.

Session 9 owes more to Nicholas Roeg's excellent Don't Look Now than to conventional
haunted house fare, blending elements of dark psychological horror with elements
of self-perpetuated fear and paranoia explored in The Blair Witch Project, but, in my
opinion, betters the two by giving us a collection of truly likeable characters who are as
real as your next door neighbor, and placing them in a setting and in circumstances
equally as genuine. Peter Mullan is brilliant as the down-on-his-luck Gordon, and really 
creates a sympathy for his character that will resonate with you long after the film's
stunning climax.

USA Home Entertainment did not skimp on the details when it came to this film. In 
addition to the film's fantastic image transfer, it's Dolby DTS 5.1 mix is crystal clear, 
and every whisper, groan and creek is given the uptmost attention! We are also given
a great commentary with Anderson and Gevendon, a very cool (albeit short) 
documentary about the Danvers State Mental Hospital, a deleted scenes segment (with
optional Anderson commentary) that shows just how much a film can be changed by 
very minor cuts and adjustments, and a host of other goodies.

Session 9 is, quite simply, one of the classiest, most effective and unsettling thrillers
to come along in quite some time. It more than measures up to some of the best 
examples in the genre, and, now that it's on home video and DVD, should become the
cult classic it deserves to be. 

Don't waste a minute looking for this one.