Remy – Session 9
I have a slight obsession with the hospital in which this film takes place. The Danvers State Hospital, just outside of Salem, has a really sordid and twisted history. Session 9 deals with that history, and much like how The Shining used The Overlook Hotel, Session 9 uses the REAL LIFE history of the Danvers State Hospital, and the results are truly chilling.
Session 9 is about a crew hired to go into this abandoned asylum and clean up some of the old asbestos and such before it’s torn down. What they find is a great deal more than they bargained for (surprise!). I can tell you from experience (read: running through Danver’s very halls), that even the way this place was built encouraged insanity. It was built in a sort of loop, and was incredibly massive, and VERY EASY to get lost in.
Just imagine – some guys have a few days to clean it out, and some shit starts happening. I refuse to go in-depth about what happens next, because the element of surprise is a huge part of what makes Session 9 work, but I will admit, you spend enough time in a place like that and its energies start seeping into you.
Session 9 has a great cast, a seedy, growing sense of dread, and a resolution that will knock you on your ass.
Also, let’s not even pretend that those session tapes are not scary as shit, because they are. I am convinced THEY set the tone for the audio logs in Bioshock. You heard that hear first.
Nato – Event Horizon
Paul W.S. Anderson is a director who often receives a ton of flak for his blockbuster Resident Evil franchise, but I ask – how can you hate the man who brought us Event Horizon? Pitched as The Shining in space by writer Philip Eisner, this “haunted house in space” flick was so sinister that Trey Parker and Matt Stone cite its horror as an inspiration for the blood-orgy loving woodland creatures in South Park.
Telling of a typical space rescue gone wrong, the crew of the Lewis and Clark respond to Event Horizon’s disappearance in orbit, which is carrying an experimental gravity drive that can connect two points in spacetime. Upon entering the lost ship, our crew discovers signs of a massacre, and become stranded on the ship. People start hallucinating, evil presents itself, there are references to Hell, and our rescuers become the ones in grave danger. There’s a lot more going on than that paragraph suggests, but spoiling plot details would be a disservice to those who haven’t seen Anderson’s best cinematic adventure.
While it was panned by critics and flopped at the box office, Event Horizon has since become a cult hit through home video releases, and is personally one of my favorite sci-fi flicks. There’s just something about opening a gate to hell and enduring maddening torments in space that gets me every time. Put the slasher films on hold for a night this Halloween and try a little sci-fi/horror!