SESSION 9 (2001) 100 minutes
Danvers State Mental Hospital, closed down for fifteen years, is about to receive five new visitors. Gordon Fleming, the man who owns and operates the Hazmat Elimination Co, badly needs to win a contract to remove asbestos from the hospital. To seal the deal, Gordon unwisely promises that he and his crew can complete the massive job in only one week. Hazmat gets the gig and the following Monday their dangerous work begins. As the work week continues, the crew is drawn deeper into the mysteries that surround the asylum: rampant patient abuse, medieval medical procedures, and rumors of demonic possession. The hospital holds many dark secrets but then, so do each of the men. The longer they struggle under the grueling pressure of their job, the more likely it seems that one of them will crack. The question is, which one will it be?
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AboutFilm's Carlo Cavagna sat down with a group of online journalists to talk about Session 9 with David Caruso, star, and Brad Anderson, writer/director, at USA Films' offices in Beverly Hills on July 23rd.
Imagine a horror movie with no hip teen actors reciting smug one-liners. Imagine a horror movie with no computer-generated special effects set to a soundtrack of the hottest new bands. Imagine a horror movie that actually takes itself seriously. Is there a place for it in today's post-modern, post-Scream cinema?
Director Brad Anderson and actor David Caruso think so. They believe audiences are starving for a more intelligent kind of horror film, one with the patience to build atmosphere and develop characters. Shooting in a real abandoned insane asylum (Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts) on a miniscule budget and drawing heavily from real-life headlines, Anderson and co-writer Steven Gevedon (who also co-stars) have created a new film called Session 9, a psychological tale of terror whose verisimilitude may be the scariest thing about it.
David Caruso enters the small conference room, shakes hands with everybody, and sits down. In person, there is little hint of the strong screen presence he projects, and, unlike most characters he has played, he seems amiable and relaxed.
Caruso: Let's talk about Traffic. I thought I was particularly good in that.
[Laughter. Traffic posters paper the studio's office walls. All four of the films' Oscars are on display in a case.]
Caruso: I'm working on Traffic 2 right now. More Traffic. And then, Session 10. Have I told you about Session 10? It's very exciting.
[Laugher. Awkward pause.]
Question: So was this as scary to make it as it was to watch?
Caruso: Yeah. Yeah. You can't…. [laughs]… Danvers is not a movie location. It really is [a mental hospital]. It was a place we never got comfortable in. It wasn't like it was day three, and you were throwing water balloons because it was so much fun to be there. It was always scary, and you could really feel the pain of the people that were at Danvers...
To read the complete interview, click here.
Genre: Suspense/Horror and Thriller Running Time: 100 min. Threatrical Release: August 10, 2001 NY/LA/BOS MPAA Rating: R for language and brief strong violence. Distributors: USA Films Production Co.: Scout Productions, USA Films U.S. Box Office: $373,967 Filming Locations: Danvers, Massachusetts, USA (Danvers State Mental Hospital) Produced in: United States Release Date: 08/13/2002