The best filmmakers never allow themselves to be pigeonholed into a single box, but even at that, nobody could have expected the director of frothy rom-coms Next Stop Wonderland and Happy Accidents to dive headlong into psychological horror and knock it right out of the park with Session 9.
Then again, looking at what The Machinist, Vanishing on 7th Street, The Call, and Blood director Brad Anderson got up to over the next two decades, maybe we shouldn’t have been all that surprised. However, it was a bolt out of the blue at the time, and while the film only made $1.6 million at the box office, it’s spent the last 20 years carving out certified cult classic status.
Set in an abandoned psychiatric institution, a looming complex becomes inhabited once more when five asbestos workers go about their daily business on the dilapidated grounds. Obviously, there are many very good reasons why the locals have made a point of staying as far away from the place as possible, something our unfortunate protagonists are about to discover firsthand.
Even though it’s been over 20 years since Session 9 first released, the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to a Reddit thread initially posted by a first-time viewer left with their jaw on the floor has only served to underline its longevity, with many even going so far as to call it the greatest horror they’ve ever seen.
It’s definitely one worth checking out for gorehounds everywhere, even if you’d be advised not to watch it with the lights off.