| Author | Message | ||
     Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Speaking of SESSION 9 (as we were on another thread), here's an essay I wrote about the film a few years ago: http://networkedblogs.com/9Cgb9 Thought it might be of some interest. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.178.82.216 |
I wrote a short review, published in the BFS Newsletter, around the time of the DVD's release, although that's not online, unfortunately. | ||
| Kate (Kathleen) Username: Kathleen Registered: 09-2009 Posted From: 81.152.74.159 |
One of my favourite horror films of all time. And I love the way you draw parallels between it and my favourite horror novel of all time.  | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Thank ye kindly, Miss Kate. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 213.81.114.142 |
Rubbish article. You totally failed to mention the CSI connection -- Paul Guifoyle is in the Vegas series and David Caruso is in CSI:Miami. The events in S9 also explain Caruso's robotic acting in CSI: Miami and why he's obsessed with covering his eyes with his sunglasses. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.2.67.184 |
That's an excellent read, Gary. The first time I watched SESSION 9, I was disappointed. I'd been told by friends to be prepared to be scared out of my wits. However, I realised that I'd seen enough quality in there to know that I had to watch it again. I did, a couple of months later, and found it a profoundly haunting experience - for all the reasons you mention. It's a very clever horror film and an incisive study of human breakdown. The hospital backdrop is masterly (how many of us have been in derelict buildings of that sort, and felt completely intimidated by the misery soaked into the wood and stone?). I also love the final twist, in which it is strongly suggested that a malevolent force is genuinely at work there. You're absolutley right to compare it to THE HAUNTING. They complement each other perfectly, and would make fine viewing for one of those double-bill evenings folk keep talking about. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Thanks, Paul - I actually keep meaning to watch those two films as a double bill but haven't got round to it yet. It would be a great (if terrifying) exercise in comparison. | ||
| Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 99.241.48.210 |
I saw years ago and it still haunts me to this day. An absolutely great film, and one of those movies I wish I had on DVD. Maybe I'll turn up a cheap copy. I live in the weak... and the wounded... | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
I may have to go back to his at some point, as I got absolutely nothing out of it when I watched it a few years back. | ||
| Stu (Stu) Username: Stu Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 82.11.97.194 |
I was disappointed when I saw it too. It was okay but I'd been led to expect something really special. May have to watch it again with lower expectations. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.237.21 |
I don't think any malevolent force is at work - it's all Gordon. Whenever he's in serious pain he switches to his alter ego, wandering around the premises at night etc. The Mary Hobbes tapes enlighten us about a patient who experienced a similar pain and developed multiple personalities as a result. The only thing I found hard to swallow is a lobotomized Hank surviving in the subcellar for a number of days. Plus the team don't exactly 'work their asses off', do they? I've done similar work when I was a lot younger, and I can tell. My two cents . . . | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Nice spoiler, Hubert, for those yet to see the film.  | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.237.21 |
Appy polly logies. Those who want to see a ghostly malevolent force will easily find it, of course. But the references to Hobbes' cell and grave and all that are red herrings imho. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
I think the film's ambiguous enough for both readings to be valid. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
POTENTIAL SPOILER... And the supernatural force in the film, for me, is more ambiguous, too. It's the place - the way madness has seeped into the bricks and mortar to make it haunted. But I allude to that in the essay. | ||
| Paul_finch (Paul_finch) Username: Paul_finch Registered: 11-2009 Posted From: 92.2.67.184 |
Whoa ... we're verging on the big question here. Does evil exist as a sentient power? Is it just a cover story for the erosion of man's psychology? Or is it a tangible product of that? | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
In SESSION 9, it's all of the above. Like I say in my essay: a haunted person meeting a haunted place. Kaboom! | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.17.252.126 |
Sounds a lot like 'The Shining'... I really must get to see this film. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
If you read the essay (I'm sick of mentioning this now), you'll see that it's more like Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. There are certain thematic similarities to The Shining, though. Namely, the subtext of the male psyche, or at least machismo, breaking down under an external (and inner) pressure. (God, I'm such a smart arse) |