Does the Setting Save Session 9? Our Honest Movie Review

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better setting than Session 9 for a horror movie. It is easily one of the most suffocating, isolated places I’ve ever experienced in cinema. As we both know, though, a great backdrop alone isn't enough to carry an entire production. We need to take a closer look at this psychological and supernatural horror to see where it truly falls within the genre.

Directed by Brad Anderson (The Machinist, The Call), the film follows a five-man asbestos removal crew tackling a high-stakes job at an abandoned asylum. Built in 1871 and shuttered in 1985, the massive compound has sat empty for decades. Now, in 2001, the town is preparing the building for a historical redevelopment project—but before any construction can begin, the toxic asbestos must go.

The core crew is four strong, led by Gordon Fleming, a stressed and desperate business owner who has just welcomed a newborn with his wife. Gordon’s right-hand man is Phil, a bitter and resentful veteran of the trade who frequently sees the worst in people. Rounding out the team are Mike and Hank, two erratic, on-again, off-again hires. Mike is a law school dropout turned obsessive archivist, while Hank is an opportunistic grifter.

As the owner, Gordon secures the jobs, and his team depends on him for reliable work. But business hasn't been great. This asylum contract is a massive reach, and Gordon knows it. Desperate, he agrees to a dangerously compressed timeline in exchange for a bigger payout. Phil quickly notices Gordon's fraying composure, creating an underlying tension that Gordon is being undermined from within.

From the moment Phil and Gordon tour the grounds, something feels deeply off. Eerie hydrotherapy tubs sit unused, ominous Polaroids clutter a patient’s cell block, and an isolated wheelchair rests like a sentinel in a dark hallway. Gordon even hears a phantom voice calling to him when staring at the chair. But when the payout is good, the pay is good; both men look past the oddities. It’s business as usual for our crew, alongside Gordon's last-minute addition: his young, naive nephew, Jeff.

The film's timeline is neatly structured from Monday through Friday. The first two days yield great progress, but by Wednesday, the environment takes its toll. Gordon begins acting erratic, Hank unexpectedly vanishes from the job site, and Mike becomes dangerously consumed by old patient therapy tapes he discovers in the depths of the asylum.

We eventually learn that a malevolent entity plagues the hospital. This presence, named Simon, is a dark alter ego originating from the audio-taped sessions of a former patient, Mary Hobbes—the very tapes Mike has been secretly reviewing. This entity preys upon Gordon's already compromised mind, while also possessing Hank during an after-hours hunt for rare historical artifacts.

The final act drops the ultimate twist. We discover that before the work week even began, an overwrought Gordon snapped, murdering his wife, newborn, and the family dog. His killing spree simply continued at the asylum, where he methodically executed his crew one by one. The film closes on a haunting aerial shot hovering across the asylum, underscored by Simon’s chilling voice: “I live in the weak and the wounded... Doc.”

Session 9 does several things beautifully. The character introductions are fantastic, giving you an immediate sense of who everyone is. Each man is driven by distinct desires and flaws, causing their personalities to clash in a way that builds organic suspicion. I appreciated that none of them are purely sympathetic; they are deeply flawed human beings, leaving you genuinely uncertain who—if anyone—will make it out alive.

The setting, of course, is a total chef's kiss. It is a spectacular backdrop for psychological horror. The interiors feel massive and never-ending, while the static exterior shots reinforce a crushing sense of isolation. The sheer scale of the place makes their cleanup job feel increasingly futile. I also liked the subplot of Simon, which successfully injects a layer of supernatural dread. The longer the characters stay, the worse they become, proving that the weak are always the most vulnerable. It serves as a great character study.

My main gripes lie in the execution. The pacing drags in places, taking its time to get where it's going, and Gordon's frequent flashbacks stall the momentum. Furthermore, I left wishing we could have explored more of the premises. With a setting this legendary, they easily could have conjured up even more spooky anomalies, making the narrow scope feel like a slight missed opportunity.

Even with those drawbacks, Session 9 remains a strong, atmospheric watch for horror fans.

3.5/5