There's something about abandoned buildings that, for some reason, will give people the willies. Without fail. Rooms covered in dust, broken windows, the absence of life in a place designed to hold it, all of that will instantly put any sane person on edge. It's why haunted house films are so effective. Doubly so if the building in question used to be a mental asylum, and triply so if the movie is made at an actual location. Session 9 boasts a pretty great cast - headlined by Peter Mullan and David Caruso - but the setting might be the biggest draw of the film. Set in the surroundings of the actual, crumbling ruins of the Danvers State Hospital (rumoured to have been the birthplace of the pre-frontal lobotomy), Session 9 sees a group of contractors brought in to remove a large amount of asbestos in the ruined building, so it can finally be torn down. Which is how it starts, but you can only spend so long in the echoing, eerie hallways of an abandoned mental asylum before things start to get sinister. The twists may be predictable, but the atmosphere director Brad Anderson creates is anything but, and the performances throughout are stellar. The film has a slowly building, brooding feel not unlike The Shining, as the crew find themselves slowly driven mad by the history of the building, which may not be quite as empty as they originally thought. Or is it? Again, no spoilers: this is one of those films you just need to sit down in front of, knowing the bare minimum going in, and let it scare the bejesus out of you.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
