12 Incredible Horror Movies With No Jump Scares

If you haven't seen Session 9, there's a good chance that you may still recognize its famous wheelchair shot. This image has become iconic among fans, and has been referenced in other works such as Silent Hill 3. The film itself received mixed reviews, with some criticizing its ending and the sometimes uneven mix of psychological, supernatural and slasher horror elements. Nonetheless, it has become something of a cult classic among those who admire its atmosphere.

Session 9 thrives on its environment, a run-down asylum with minimal set dressing. Danvers State Mental Hospital was apparently an unnerving place to film, with real asbestos filling the walls as well as creepy voices and ghost sightings reported by the actors. As a result of this built-in atmospheric terror, the production design team didn't actually need to change much in order to achieve the tone they wanted for the film.

This is also yet another film on the list with shockingly real influences. Director Brad Anderson was inspired to write Session 9 after recalling the case of Richard Rosenthal, a man who butchered his wife for criticizing his burnt ziti. Rosenthal's story only inspires a small part of Session 9's overall plot, but it drives home the chilling idea that the film's most mysterious character, Simon, lives "in the weak and the wounded." Session 9 is a story about the dark insanity that lives in those not necessarily confined to the walls of asylums, and its real-world inspiration only serves to further that message.

At the end of the film, it isn't made entirely clear how much of what you've seen has been supernatural. Is Simon only a mirror for the movie's real antagonist, or a possessive force that set the film's murders into action? Session 9 won't tell you, and not knowing will be the source of your real terror as the credits roll on this dark exploration of human nature.