susan granger 's review of " session 9 " ( usa films ) sometimes you just get more than your bargained for . . .
like when boston - based hazmat elimination , run by scottish actor peter mullan and his trusty assistant , david caruso , assures a town engineer ( paul guilifoyle ) that they can remove insidious asbestos fibers from a victorian hospital facility in a week .
erected in 1871 , deserted and decomposing since 1985 , the danvers mental hospital , is one of the most malevolent " locations " ever chosen for a film .
the structure is so massive - with its labyrinth of rubble - strewn corridors , collapsing floors , stagnant pools of water , isolation cells , and ominous surgical chambers where experimental pre - frontal lobotomies were performed - that their task seems impossible within that time frame .
and each member of their inexperienced crew ( stephan gevedon , brandon sexton iii , and josh lucas ) is coping with his own personal demons as , one by one , their minds seem to be affected by the grim areas in which they 're working .
the film 's title is derived from salvaged reel - to - reel audio - recorded sessions involving the demonic possession of a young woman who is suffering from multiple personalities .
by the time session 9 occurs
so do dreadful disasters .
filmmaker brad anderson obviously envisioned this as a gruesome chainsaw - massacre - type ghost story but
the script lacks structure and is n't particularly scary .
the conclusion is more ludicrous than convincing
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on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " session 9 " is a dark , gloomy 4 .
silly me .
.
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at first , i thought that the original name of the danvers lunatic asylum bore some reference to mrs .
danvers , the creepy housekeeper played by judith anderson in alfred hitchcock 's truly terrifying " rebecca " that also involved a cavernous mansion called manderley .
the script lacks structure and is n't particularly scary more ludicrous than convincing