Session 9 [Blu-ray]

Director: Brad Anderson Brad Anderson

Overview

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.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/16/2016
UPC:	0826663168723
Original Release:	2001
Rating:	R
Source:	Shout Factory
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:40:00
Sales rank:	15,447

Special Features

NEW return to danvers: the secrets of Session 9 featuring interviews with Brad Anderson, Stephen Gevedon and more...; NEW horror's hallowed grounds; Audio commentary with director Brad Anderson; Deleted scenes/alternate ending; Story-to-screen featurette; The Haunted Palace featurette; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

David Caruso	Phil
Stephen Gevedon	Mike
Paul Guilfoyle	Bill Griggs
Peter Mullan	Gordon Fleming
Brendan Sexton III	Jeff
Charley Broderick	Security Guard
Lonnie Farmer	Doctor
Larry Fessenden	Craig McManus
Jurian Hughes	Mary Hobbes
Sheila Stasack	Wendy
Josh Lucas	Hank
Brendan Sexton	Actor

Technical Credits

Brad Anderson

Stephen Gevedon

Brad Anderson	Director,Screenwriter
Dorothy Aufiero	Producer
Sheila Jaffe	Casting
Peter Kuran	Special Effects
John Sloss	Executive Producer
Georgianne Walken	Casting
Michael Williams	Producer
David Collins	Producer
Stephen Gevedon	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

1/2
Session 9, a spine-tingler directed with fierce finesse by Brad Anderson, puts an asbestos-removal crew (Peter Mullan, David Caruso, Stephen Gevedon, Josh Lucas, Brendan Sexton III) into an abandoned asylum and lets the scares rip without mercy.

Rolling Stone - Peter Travers

Session 9 is so effective that its sense of uncertainty lingers long after the theater lights have gone up.

Los Angeles Times - Kevin Thomas

Session 9is a genre work in the classic, composed style, working mostly with shadows and suggestion (until the end, anyway) instead of tricking things up with too much fancy cutting and shaky handheld work. Anderson has never done a horror project before (his previous features were romantic comedies), and this one is good enough to make one hope he doesn't take too much time before tackling another.

Fangoria - Michael Gingold