I'd Rather Your Tell Me, Simon: Session 9 (2001)

Over the nearly two years that this blog has existed, I have made it clear on at least one or two occasions that my favorite horror film is the 2001 American indie work Session 9, directed by Brad Anderson who is perhaps better known for The Machinist.  My revisiting of this movie last night, not only reaffirmed by love of this unconventional horror film, but allowed me to read it in a far grander way, thanks to considerably more film and critical theory under my belt than the first time around.  It is one of the burgeoning works of digital filmmaking, which to some may mean it is a bit off putting because, tragically, digitial filmmaking has become sort of synonymous with cheap movies.  Yet, in Session 9 the filmmaking only helps to add an aura of disturbing feeling to the film, particularly when the camera appears to simply float around scenes, as though it were entirely its own spectral spirit.  The acting, while a bit wishy-washy overall does lead to a handful of very well-executed performances that add yet another level of paranoia to the films already complex plot.  For a film that requires no CGI, and very minimal special effects, it manages to still gather together a magnificent array of horrors and a the minimal amount of blood and gore to help justify it being considered for the genre, despite its clear attachment to the psychological thriller genre.  I am well aware that Session 9 is by no means for every person, but I can say, after this recent revisiting of the work, that it will definitively reside as my favorite horror film to date, however, I have also not seen a good bit of the horror classics so there is always a possibility of that changing in the future, all be it considerably unlikely.

The narrative of Session 9 centers on Gordon (Peter Mullan) the head man for a asbestos removing company that is trying to land a huge job at the Danvers State Hospital, a mental institution that has been closed since 1985 and has become nothing more than a place for graffiti and vandalism.  After winning the bid for the place by agreeing to do the immense task in a week, Gordon brings along his diverse team of workers which includes his right hand man Phil (David Caruso), Mike (Stephen Gevedon), Gordon's nephew Jeff (Brendan Sexton III) and the rebel of the team, and advisary to Phil, as he lost his former girlfriend to him, Hank (Josh Lucas).  It seems as though the job will go on with little to no confrontation, aside from the usual male pissing contests, until Mike uncovers a set of reel-to-reel audio tapes that recount the experiences of one particularly disturbing patient named Mary Hobbes, who suffered from a severe case of dissociative identity disorder.  As the unveiling of Mary's various personalities occurs, so does the fracturing of the sanity of the group members, as Hank goes missing after wandering about the ward late at night.  Furthermore, it becomes apparent that Gordon is hiding his home life from the crew, most notably Phil, in that he has not been spending the night at home after hitting his wife for accidentally dropping a pot of boiling water on his foot.  As the voice of Simon, Mary's darkest persona is revealed, it becomes evident blatant that things are not alright within Gordon, as the group splits up to find Hank.  Things come to a jarring conclusion as an unseen attacker begins to  prowl the halls of the insane asylum.  I would elaborate a bit more on the plot, as it is quite complex, but it would spoil far too much of the film for me to feel justified.  So much of the enjoyment in this film lies in the dark ambient advancement between the days in the narrative to be ruined for the sake of my blog post.

I mentioned in the opening that the film seems to deal a great deal with notions of masculine competition, as well as levels of deceit.  If there is any critical reading to be done without delving into heavy amounts of psychology, it is within this gender commentary.  Gordon has failed as a paternal figure in the film and is visibly seen confronting these problems, perhaps most intensely in his closing phone call conversation during the film.  However, he is certainly not the only one suffering from a shock to their male power role, Phil is at ends with Hank, not because he particularly detests him as a worker, but, instead, because he directly affected his ability to justify his masculinity through sexual dominance and conquest.  Hank, also suffers from an attachment to wealth and luxury based power, something he clearly associates with being masculine.  Even, Jeff suffers from gendered guilt when he begs repeatedly not to be placed into dark rooms as he suffers from crippling nyctophobia, which has all kinds of Freudian gender implications, whether they be regression to childhood or things related to the womb, regardless he begs each of the members of the party not to make this fact known, completely overlooking that he is indeed making it known to everyone in the process.  In fact, the only character to not be completely preoccupied with his masculine power is Mike, excluding the one scene in which he demonstrates a lobotomy, Mike is sequestered from the group and finds joy, instead, in his discovery of the Mary's sessions.   These varied approaches to masculinity confront one another in the film and at times hide, leading to an incredible climax of testosterone gone wrong that is a cinematic whirlwind.  I am not certain that Anderson intends this reading, but when paired with his other work The Machinist ,it would be hard to ignore.

Key Scene:  A few of Gordon's nightmares are quite surreal and scary.

I cannot express how necessary it is to see this film, even if you find yourself not liking it, its unique offering to horror cannot be overlooked and is certainly worth owning if you are lucky enough to find a copy.

Their Sickness Is Bound To Rub Off On You: Shock Corridor (1963)

To blatantly call a work by Samuel Fuller specific to any genre is to severely undersell its brilliance, this is certainly the case with any of his war movies, as well as his more unusual works such as White Dog. Considering this adding Fuller's Shock Corridor to my horror movie viewing list could be read as a bit misguided considering that it is a psychological thriller more than anything else, however, I would make an argument that the psychological thriller, at least as Fuller creates it, exists a work that also infuses horror elements, particularly when you consider that Shock Corridor makes it absolutely clear that in terms of frightening things, nothing is nearly as scary as human beings controlling the thoughts, believes and actions of others, something that saturates Fuller's narrative.  Of course, one cannot expect a melodramatic drama in good taste when talking about this often contested director, particularly considering that he has a way of being a bit on the nose with his social commentary.  Yet, Fuller's commitment to the absolutely exploitative and the dialogue that results from such avenues makes for one hell of a film that is both cinematically rewarding and socially condemning.  It rides happily on the coattails of everything that went wrong ethically in the late 1950's and early 1960's ranging from nuclear warfare, to red scare paranoia as well as a both brilliant and problematic reflection on race relations in America at the time.  Combined into an explosive and literal strike of lightening, Shock Corridor exists in its own world as a piece of cinema so otherworldly that you could only expect it from one Mr. Fuller.

Shock Corridor considers the experience of one Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck) as he, along with the help of some intellectual friends at his newspaper, plans to have himself admitted to a mental hospital with the intention of discovering who murdered one of the patients six months earlier.  In order to succeed at his task, something he believes will earn him a Pulitzer Prize, Johnny recruits the help of his girlfriend Cathy (Constance Towers) to pass as his sister, claiming that Johnny attempted to engage in incest with her on more than one occasion.  Using this socially condemned act as a means for access Johnny is admitted and plays the part of an insane person while he tries to navigate through the insane to discover who murdered a man named Sloan.  This navigation includes talking to individuals like Pagliacci (Larry Tucker) a obese ex-hitman who identifies as a opera singer, one Dr. Menkin (Paul Dubov) who has regressed to childhood after the burdens of being a nuclear physicist became too overwhelming and even a man whose war experiences left him in such shambles that he believes himself to be a Civil War general.  Along the way Johnny must also face a ward of nymphomaniacs, electrotherapy and the judging eye of the warden.  Cathy begins to worry as it become clear that Johnny's interactions with her are becoming more problematic as his mask of sanity is slowly slipping away.  Despite demanding that he leave and asking for help from Johnny's superiors, no luck is had and Johnny remains in the ward.  While he does discover who the killer was and manages to make him confess, by the time he is released from the hospital he is too far gone and is left simply an emotionless body, much to the dismay of a loving Cathy.

The social commentary in this film is a bit on the nose, considering that Fuller suggests that each individuals mental state is fractured as a result of their problematic interactions with other societal forces, whether it be condemning parents, corrupt mobsters or racist Southerners, all the patients clearly find themselves able to regain sanity when they reflect on the events that led them to the mental hospital.  These reflections are always in color, some abstractions, that nonetheless, suggest that their reality is a grounded place and the grey world of the mental ward has been projected upon each of them by societal condemnations.  It makes Johnny's experience quite interesting in that it is he who makes himself crazy, in his situation it is his desire to obtain a prize, something he finds far more valuable than having a loving girlfriend who is willing to bare skin to keep them financially afloat, a fact which haunts him through much of the film.  Interestingly, Fuller appears to consciously keep every physical interaction in the world of black and white, perhaps a suggestion that even the sanest appearing characters throughout the film also suffers from some degree of insanity, particularly the employees of the ward as well as Johnny's boss who clearly does not have his best interests at heart.  In the end, Fuller makes it clear that anybody is susceptible to insanity and that is its far more important to consider why somebody may have gone off the deep end, as opposed to simply condemning them for their lack of social conformity.

Key Scene:  The two scenes involving electricity are quite well edited and the montages are intense

This viewing is thanks to Criterion having an expansive Hulu page with most everyone of their films, yet, I had not realized that this would be such a beautifully shot film and plan to get the bluray in the upcoming months and so should you.