#19 - Session 9

MOVIE:  Session 9 (2001)

OVERALL ENJOYMENT:  Meh.  Creepy, perhaps, not quite scary, rather confusing through most of it.

PLOT:  A group of asbestos removers manage to get the low bid on an asbestos-removing job at an old closed mental asylum.  As the days wear on, things start to get a little tense.  Then one of the workers disappears, and things start to go downhill pretty quickly.

GOOD POINTS:  Awesome location shots.  Supposedly there actually was a Danvers institution for the mentally insane or something like that.  I don't know if it was used during filming or what.  Certainly the place is creepy as hell on the inside, as only an old abandoned insane asylum could be, and I love the opposite effect once people leave the building.  The outside is as bright, sunny and cheerful as the inside is dark and oppressive, offering beautiful scenery and relaxing greenery, with birdsong aplenty.  Good acting throughout.

BAD POINTS:  Confusing story line.  Had to look up on the internet what was supposedly actually going on.  No real explanation.  Easy enough to figure out whodunnit, no surprises there, just the why of it is never really answered.  No nudity, but with this cast that's really a blessing.

SPOILERS:  Supposedly (and you may need to know this information to figure things out in the film), there was an "entity" present in the asylum and it chose one of the cast to infest.  I really hate giving away this sort of spoiler, but I spent literally the entirety of the film trying to figure out the why of it.  They give so much history to this one former patient, I was somehow trying to connect that patient and the identity of the killer, but there is apparently no real connection at all except the "entity" theory.  Which is strange because I identified the real killer right off.  They basically showed his behavior in such a way that I literally had NO doubt about who it was, an in fact, who was doing the killing didn't even seem to be the real impetus behind the film.  Mostly it was a question of why, which was never really answered, much to the film's detriment, I think.

IMPRESSIONS:  I'm still confused.  This movie is basically a confusing movie.  I would have been fine if they had given a little more evidence to one explanation or the other, or even thrown a completely new theory into play and explained it at the end, but they didn't, so I was left quite unsatisfied.  So it's basically a slow, thoughtful movie with a lot of suspense and no real consummation at the end, despite the small body count.  I might watch again just to apply the new theory I read about on the internet to what i was seeing, in hopes of it clicking in and finally adding up, but I don't think a second viewing would help much.  I would say maybe watch this one with some friends and have a discussion about possible theories afterwards?  But don't get too drunk, or some fisticuffs may result.

OTHER NEWS:  Grimm was good as usual, and apparently, they are bringing back the MUNSTERS!  :-o  Next week!  I am flabbergasted.  Munsters was one of my favorite shows growing up, mostly because the humor was better than in the Addams family.  I doubt the new show will last more than a season (these blasts from the past never do), but hey, I applaud the effort.

BONUS REVIEW:  The Lost Boys (1987)  Also saw this movie tonight.  Never reviewed it before, either, to my knowledge, mainly because it's such a cult classic and they play it during october every year!  lol  This movie was shot at the height of the 80s, starring many of the huge stars of the time.  Jami gertz, jason patric, even the "two Coreys," as they were referred to back in the 80's.  And Edward hermann, one of the most underrated character actors of our time.  Yea, the guy who played richie rich's dad!  lol  Of course, Jami Gertz's career pretty much ended with "Twister,"  Jason Patric's career pretty much ended with "Speed 2" and the corey's careers pretty much died a few years after this movie, making "dream a little dream" (and of course, one of the coreys is deceased now).  All in all I think only the older stars, dianne wiest and Edward herman, survived this movie.  However, it was actually pretty decent, had great music throughout, and was even slightly scary/creepy in spots.  Oh and of course, Keifer Sutherland pretty much made his career playing the vampire pack leader in this movie, because before this he'd only landed supporting parts and after this movie, he was (and still is, pretty much) hollywood gold.  It's a pretty strong performance by him, I must admit, and basically glues the movie together.  Worth watching for the music, fans of vampire films would also like this (and by fans of vampire films i do NOT mean Twilight fans), and good performances by keifer sutherland and most of the rest of the cast.  Seriously, was that extra Frog brother really necessary?  I know "the Lost Boys" spawned a couple awful sequels, but that kid only had like 3 lines of dialogue, tops.  lol

That's it for tonight.  I feel like an Orc peon.  "Work work work!"  Mostly because I have to run the car in for repairs first thing in the morning.  blech.