Session 9 (2001) #469

 

"Session 9" is a dark, haunting psychological thriller about a team of asbestos removers working in an old asylum and how one the the team members comes across tape recordings of one of the more puzzling cases that took place there many years ago. Directed by Brad Anderson and starring David Caruso, Peter Mullan, and Larry Fessenden.

Gordon owns an asbestos abatement company that wins a highly sought after contract to clean out a large abandoned mental hospital with it own infamous history. Part of the contract that Gordon agreed to was that his team would finish the job in only one week, much to the dismay of the team's supervisor Phil. Before the project even begins, the team members have their own personal demons to contend with. Phil is dealing with a breakup with his girlfriend, Hank has a gambling problem and is sleeping with Phil's ex, Mike who is a law school dropout with an anger problem, and Gordon's nephew Jeff who has an extreme fear of the dark. It's not long before the project starts to fall apart, including Hank's disappearance and Mike finding a set of tapes from the sessions of one of the patients. 

The narrative's pace is steady throughout so it never feels too slow or fast and the scenes build well upon each other while the session tapes act as interludes. It feels like a proper ghost or haunted house story, achieving a chilling and frightening atmosphere without gore and violence. This movie makes you think and multiple viewings offer hidden clues that you may have missed previously. It's all about the interpersonal relationships and the rundown hospital.

The movie was filmed in Danvers State Hospital in Massachusetts. The hospital itself greatly inspired Anderson's script as well as a real life trial concerning a man who violently killed his wife after she burnt his dinner one night. The crew had no need for sets, using what was already left in the hospital. The hospital has since been demolished, but not before leaving a part of it's legacy on film for all horror fans to enjoy

Frailty (2001) #414

In his first role as director, Bill Paxton delivers a complex and haunting film about two young brothers who witness their father's decline into madness as he comes to believe that he is performing God's work by killing demons in the appropriately titled "Frailty". The movie is riddled with the perfect amount of tension and suspense, with outstanding performances that drive the film forward by both Paxton and Matthew McConaughey. What could have been a straight forward "realistic" slasher turns out to be more involved and chilling than it is at first glance, with twists and turns that make the viewers almost feel sympathetic for the various characters and the crimes that they commit.

Fenton Meiks visits the Dallas FBI office, asking for Agent Wesley Doyle. Upon meeting the agent, Fenton begins to tell him how his brother is the serial killer "God's Hand" and how his brother came to become this wanted criminal. The story's roots take place when Fenton and his brother where much younger and living with their father, who one night came home and told his sons that he had a vision from God, telling him that he was chosen to kill demons that were hiding as normal people. Fenton and his brother then join their father as he sought out those that were supposedly demons, killing them with an axe named "Otis". While Fenton thought that his father had gone, his brother Adam fully believed in their father's work, continuing to finish the job that Dad Meiks was given.

Inugami (2001)

The 2001 film "Inugami" is beautiful and haunting Japanese horror fantasy about a ancient family curse concerning wild dog deities. The movie is based around three main characters; Miki, a spinster who makes paper in the old traditional fashion, her brother Takano, a drunk and cheating husband who runs the large family, and Akira, a new school teacher in a near by village who falls in love with Miki. The plot is full of deep dark family secrets, Japanese mythology, romantic tension, and twists. The filming and production values are extremely high, and I loved how the final climatic scenes were shot in black and white for an heightened effect.

Without revealing too much, the story is set in modern day Japan in a tiny village, right before the Bonomiya family is set to celebrate their 900th family anniversary. On the day that Akira first comes to the village and meets Miki, strange occurrences begin to affect the villagers starting with weird nightmares and increasing to brutal deaths that are quickly blamed upon the Inugami. Slowly the secrets about the Bonomiya family are revealed, including those concerning Miki and Tokano. Upon the day of the Ancestral Rites, Tokano decides to offer Miki as a sacrifice to appease the Dog Gods....

Sole Survivors (2001)

"Sole Survivors" is a film with an interesting concept that fails to turn it into scary or entertaining movie. What happens when a soul is stuck between the world of the living and the world of the dead? I personally feel that the film"Sublime" handles this topic better, even if that movie failed to be entertaining as well. The most annoying part of the film are the two cultists that continously chase the main character around; their first appearance in the movie doesn't make any sense except for the fact that it establishes them as the villains. The upside of this film is getting to see Eliza Dushku play a role besides the main love interest/heroine.

This is simply another movie that I suggest you skip if you value your time.

Valentine (2001)

"Valentine" is just another insipid slasher flick that tries to capitalize on a holiday. It has a similiar feel to "Prom Night" and doesn't add anything new to the slasher sub-genre, effectively tripping over all of the cliches that the first "Scream" film so politely pointed out. It is clever enough that it includes an element of foreshadowing as to how everyone will die, something that I really appreciate. The casting choices were made be who was pretty and not necessarily for their acting skills, although the film does star Katherine Heigl a few years before she became a household name.


During a junior high dance, a socially awkward boy bravely asks five girls to dance. Three of them are mean and insult him, the fourth politely turns him down, and the fifth accepts. The two soon find themselves making out under the bleachers but when they are discovered by some other kids, the girl screams that he is assualting her. The boy is badly beaten and transfers away from the school soon after. Thirteen years later, after everyone has grown up to be as gorgeous as models, the five five friends begin to pay for their behaviour from that dance that happened so long ago. Some receive cards with threatening messages while one recieves a box of chocolates filled with maggots. And then people start dying; the girls, their boyfriends, police detectives. The movie boils down to trying to figure out who the killer is and if it is indeed the boy from thirteen years ago or someone who is using him as an excuse....

From Hell (2001)

"From Hell" is a horror film that makes it's own guesses as to who Jack the Ripper might have been. Adapted from the graphic novel written by Alan Moore and directed by the Hughes Brothers, "From Hell" stars Johnny Depp as Inspector Abberline, a brilliant but moody man who uses his slight psychic visions to help him solve cases. The role was a perfect fit for Depp, an actor who started out in a horror film ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" and who has since revisited the genre from time to time. Ian Holm ("Alien") is another great fit, portraying Sir William Gull, a retired surgeon who worked directly for the Queen and her family. The odd choice in casting is Heather Graham as Mary Kelly. one of the five prostitutes who become the focus and victims of the famed Ripper; she is an odd choice only because she never really looks the part. She is able to keep an accent throughout the film and has her own sense of presence when sharing the screen with Depp, but the way that her face and her clothes never look as dirty or worn down as the others becomes annoying after you notice it.


Inspector Frederick Abberline is rudely awoken one day in an opium den by morning by his friend Sergeant Peter Goldy, who needs his help in solving a gruesome murder of a prostitute in the Whitechapel District. It appears that the body was stabbed, gutted, and had an organ removed. Abberline realizes that the murder has to be someone educated and trained in surgical techniques considering how the murder and removal of the organ was completed. Soon another prostitute is killed in a similar fashion as well as having a different organ carefully removed in the dead and dark of night. Abberline finds the remaining prostitutes that had been friends and worked together. With the help of Mary Kelly, Abberline eventually discovers that they may be involved with a plot conducted by the Royal family, or those loyal to it, to cover up a scandal and to take revenge upon those who have "wronged" them. When Abberline begins to fall in love with Mary Kelly, he begins to take the case very seriously, ignoring the direct requests of his superior to leave the case and forget all the he has already seen. But of course that's not going to happen....

The Others (2001)

"The Others" is a stylistic ghost film set in England at the end of World War 2. The film strength relies on the darkness with the sun being hidden behind thick, heavy curtains, and from the pure isolation of the country house where the characters reside. They are cut off from the rest of the world, for better but much more for the worse. The soundtrack adds a layer of drawn out intensity and Nicole Kidman is the driving force as the main character Grace. This film might be a bit too slow for some and once you know the ending, the film loses whatever replay value it may have had. The story itself isn't very deep but this is a straight forward ghost story that delivers the promise of a ghost  or two.

Grace is a lone mother raising her two small children in a secluded country house far from the battlefields of World War 2. She is patiently waiting for her husband to come home from the war front by her loneliness is becoming apparent. The film begins when three strangers arrive to take positions as servants within the house. Grace hires them and as she shows them around, she explains that her children suffer from a rare disease that prevents them from being exposed to sunlight without being harmed. The rules are so strict that Grace makes sure that everyone knows that one door must be locked so the next may be opened to avoid any accidents from taking place. About the time that the servants arrive, Anne begins telling her brother Nicholas about a young ghost named Victor. She scares her brother to the point that Grace has to punish her but Anne refuses to apologize because she hasn't done anything wrong. Anne later draws a picture of four ghosts including Victor, a man and a woman, and an older women. After Grace finds various doors left opened that the servants swear that they did not use, she becomes concerned that there are others in the house with them. Odd events continue to take place including the disappearance of all of the thick curtains that are used to protect her children as well as the sudden appearance of Grace's husband Charles. Charles seems lost and distant and after a single day he tells Grace that he has to return to the front, even though the war is over. After this, the presence of the "Others" becomes stronger, forcing Grace to confront the truth about what is really going on.

The Attic Expeditions (2001)

“The Attic Expeditions” was one of the films that graced the screens of the H.P. Lovecraft Festival during one of the years that I decided to skip. Knowing what I know now, I wish I had gone and was a part of the collective audience and that fantastic energy that flows throughout that theater. It’s a perfect movie for that festival besides the fact that Jeffery Combs is one of the stars. It deals with magic tomes, false identities (like “The Thing in the Doorstep” style), and magic rituals gone astray.

I don’t want to spoil the movie so I’ll keep the outline simple.

Trevor and his girlfriend are really into magic and spells and during a ritual he kills her as a sacrifice. He doesn’t remember this or much of anything after he wakes up and finds himself in a hospital of some kind. He is then placed in a home for troubled young adults where he is quickly befriended by Douglas (played by Seth Green). The house is under surveillance by Dr. Ek (played by Jeffrey Combs), and Dr. Ek is delighted to share his technique and philosophies to Dr. Coffee (played by Ted Raimi). Ultimately, Dr. Ek wants the book that Trevor used and will resort to some very unethical means to get want he wants

Favorite moment – As always, Seth Green is a hoot to watch and you can tell that he is having a lot of fun with his role in this film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSkNYyd_WyI

El Espinazo Del Diablo - aka - The Devil's Backbone (2001)

I was honestly surprised that I enjoyed watching “The Devil’s Backbone” now than when I first saw it several years ago. It’s not nearly as gut-wrenching as “Pan’s Labyrinth” is but it is still a powerful movie about children having to deal with their new realities as the result of the Spanish Civil War. It is a ghost story and although you see the ghost quite often, he is not the main focus of the movie. The story is about the living and how to live during the time of war.

"The Devil's Backbone" is an engrossing ghost story that takes place in a far off school that has become a refuge for orphaned children of parents that have been killed or are still fighting in the Spanish Civil War. It begins when Carlos is brought to the school, unaware that his father has died. He becomes friends with two of the other boys there but immediately attracts the attention of the resident bully, Jaime. Carlos causes trouble, or takes the blame of various acts, as he tries to settle in. At night, he begins to hear things, see shadows, and finally discovers that the school is haunted by a ghost named Santi and eventually learns that Jaime knows how Santi died. 

The movie is also about Jacinto, a former orphan who grew up at the school and his attempts to steal gold ingots that are hidden there and are meant to fund the Republicans efforts in the war. He uses the school’s principal Carmen, preying on her weakness for affection while making false promises to the school’s young teacher Conchita. His selfish acts, as well as the approaching enemy forces, sets of a violent series of events that will affect the school forever.

Favorite moment – When Carlos first walks into the school yard and sees that undetonated bomb in the courtyard. It is a quiet and foreboding image but brings a smile to his innocent face. From this scene you realize that as violent or horrible as the situation might be, it’s filtered through the eyes of the innocent children in the school.

Dagon (2001)

“Dagon” was the feature film at the Lovecraft Film Festival in 2001. I loved watching it on the big screen for the first time and then realizing the joy that I was about to see it again on the Sci-Fi channel a week later. “Dagon” is a fun but loose adaptation of one of Lovecraft’s best known stories, “The Shadow Over Innsmouth”. It was directed by the one and only Gordon Stuart, produced by Brian Yuzna, and introduces Lovecraft movie fans to actor Ezra Godden, who would end up working with Stuart again in the production of “Dreams in the Witch House”. Just like “From Beyond”, “Dagon” was filmed and produced in Spain in order to make most of their budget.

Paul and his girlfriend Barbara are out boating with another couple when the boat hits a reef and becomes stuck far off shore. Paul and Barbara take a life raft to find help at a small fishing village within sight. When they arrive, they find that the town is empty but eventually find help at the local church. Barbara stays behind to find more help while Paul returns to the boat with two fishermen. His two friends are gone so Paul returns to the fishing village but is unable to find Barbara. He rents a room in the rundown hotel. Paul is woken up from a fitful sleep by a mob of odd looking villagers in the middle of the night. This mob enters the hotel and Paul barely escapes and realizes that these fish-like people are hunting him down, for whatever reason. He eventually finds the local crazy drunkard who tells him what has happened to the little fishing village and the evil that has come. Paul is now faced with trying to find his way out before it’s too late….

Favorite moment – The mob attacking Paul in the hotel. It’s intense and well paced and watching the actor play Paul, you can see how he is a lot like a young Jeffrey Combs while being himself.