Post by tav7623 on Mar 4, 2010 1:15:08 GMT -5
Hey everyone tav here with my review of the 2001 film Session 9 which is directed and written by Brad Anderson who also brought us Transsiberian and The Machinist and stars a pre CSI David Caruso, Stephen Gevedon, and Josh Lucas. The film follows a asbestos cleaning crew over the span of a week as they go about cleaning an abandoned mental institute that is about to be renovated. As the week progresses tensions rise between the crew as they race the clock to get the building clean by Monday, and as they explore the building they begin to discover the dark past of the mental institute. Now I initially tried to write this review last week but found that because of the way the film is written/edited it made it very difficult for me to use my preferred review format. Sure I could have attempted to force it into fitting my preferred review format but it wouldn’t do this film the justice it deserves. This film is quite frankly a bit different than the previous films I have reviewed, most of them were steeped in the rich history of their sub genre and were meant to be entertaining……in short most of them were a blast to just sit right back and enjoy (except Zombie Strippers)…. This film on the other hand was a serious film, it has some genre historical references but in bringing those up it would spoil the films ending. Which is the other reason why writing this review is so difficult, because I don’t want to spoil this film. It’s one of those films that in order to be properly appreciated it has to be seen and then discussed. That being said I have a feeling that some people who watch this film won’t like it, not one bit, especially those who want to be entertained or are looking for a fun enjoyable film….this film is not a fun romp ….it’s actually quite a drag……this film has little to no blood, all the effects are practical and it is kind of like the quote from Nietzsche “If you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back at you”… that is just scratching the surface. This film is deep and intricate, so much so that I could write multi-page essays dedicated to the various aspects of the film, but I won’t bore you with long film school/film scholarly essays, which is best saved for academic film journals (and yes there is actually two academic film journals dedicated to the horror genre…both a of course not US based but rather are British and Irish based……I know this because I at one time contemplated submitting essays to both of them………….. I have to put my college edumacation to some kind of good use…..)
Overall I give this film a 9 out of 10 for being a taught film that slowly ratchets the tension up to 11 and keeps it going all the way through to the end. If you do not like thrillers or are looking for a fun movie then this film is not for you……..it is a “serious” film and it is fucked up and at times uncomfortable to watch……and in the case of some leave them thinking….contemplating the depths and horror found in the film’s final scenes . I hope you enjoyed my review, and I look forward to getting your feedback on this film.
Next week’s review will be of another movie found on Netflix Instant Watch, and will be going back to somewhat familiar ground as far as a certain sub genre in which I have already written three reviews about and which was made famous by the man, the myth, the legend……… George A. Romero
Overall I give this film a 9 out of 10 for being a taught film that slowly ratchets the tension up to 11 and keeps it going all the way through to the end. If you do not like thrillers or are looking for a fun movie then this film is not for you……..it is a “serious” film and it is fucked up and at times uncomfortable to watch……and in the case of some leave them thinking….contemplating the depths and horror found in the film’s final scenes . I hope you enjoyed my review, and I look forward to getting your feedback on this film.
Next week’s review will be of another movie found on Netflix Instant Watch, and will be going back to somewhat familiar ground as far as a certain sub genre in which I have already written three reviews about and which was made famous by the man, the myth, the legend……… George A. Romero