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1[[quoteright:299:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/session9_poster.png]]
2
3-> ''".... It's gonna get ugly."''
4-->-- '''Phil'''
5
6A 2001 PsychologicalHorror about a cleaning crew busy taking asbestos off from the Danvers State Asylum (opened in 1855, condemned in 1985), which ends up being a much more...''[[{{Understatement}} stressful]]'' job than any of them bargained for. Directed by Brad Anderson and starring Creator/PeterMullan, Creator/DavidCaruso and Creator/JoshLucas.
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9!!The movie provides examples of:
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11* AbandonedHospital: An actual one, a prominent landmark along Route 1. Very few changes were made to the site for the film. It is now an apartment complex.
12* ApocalypticLog: The Sessions, [[TitleDrop the 9th of which gives the title of the movie]] and plays at the end. And delivers one of the most, if not THE most, bone-chilling scenes in the movie.
13* BloodyHandprint: Seen on the van door when Craig arrives, foreshadowing Jeff's fate.
14* BuildingOfAdventure: Almost all scenes are shot around or inside the asylum.
15* CatScare: Hank gets scared by noises in the CreepyBasement and eventually comes across some [[DisturbedDoves disturbed pigeons]] which he thinks were the cause.
16* ChekhovsGun: In one scene, Hank finds some equipment for lobotomy. Later in the movie, [[spoiler: Gordon lobotomizes him with them, coupling it with ChekhovsSkill from Mikey's earlier mock-demonstration/description of the process on Jeff]].
17* CreepyBasement: The scary moments with Hank in the dark basement where he finds valuables but also hears noises. Jeff later also finds himself in a dark tunnel after a generator failure.
18* DeathByRecognition: A scene during the OnceMoreWithClarity reveal at the end shows Hank in the basement bumping into someone unseen and asking him what he is doing there followed by him [[ScreamDiscretionShot screaming]].
19* DeathOfAChild: [[spoiler:One of Gordon's victims is his baby daughter.]]
20* DevelopingDoomedCharacters: [[spoiler: It's mentioned that Mike's dad was a DA, and that Mike himself has ambitions of going into law school eventually. None of that really matters, because Mike gets murdered along with everyone else. The same goes with Hank and Phil's relationship drama with Amy]].
21* DisproportionateRetribution: On one hand, there is [[spoiler: Mary killing her brother for breaking her doll and then killing her parents to avoid them getting mad at her]]. And then there is [[spoiler: Gordon killing his wife because she accidentally spilled hot water on him and then his baby and dog because they were making noise]]. Whether this is also the reason behind [[spoiler: the death of the team members]] is left unclear with maybe the exception of [[spoiler: Phil]].
22* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Gordon [[PaterFamilicide killed his wife, daughter]] and colleagues (even if the jury's still out on Hank), during a DID-induced psychotic break. Or, [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane alternatively]], after being possessed by Simon.]]
23* EyeScream: See ChekhovsGun. [[spoiler: It's revealed that after Gordon lobotomized Hank, he left the silver 'ice-pick' embedded to the hilt in Hank's eye. He does the same thing to Craig.]]
24* FatalFamilyPhoto: Inverted. Gordon shows the team photos of his baby daughter and his wife, which might suggest Gordon will die before the end of the film. [[spoiler:Gordon survives. His team and his family are not so lucky.]]
25* {{Fauxshadow}}: Lots of clues are dropped to make [[spoiler:Phil]] the villain of the story, like him lying about the phone call to Amy and turning the crew against [[spoiler:Gordon]]. Turns out he is innocent.
26* {{Foreshadowing}}:
27** When Phil claims that everyone heard Amy say that Hank had gone to Miami to go to casino school, Gordon points out that none of them actually heard it: Phil claimed to have been on the phone to Amy, but they didn't actually hear her saying that herself. This clues the audience into the fact that [[spoiler:we haven't actually heard Gordon's wife over the phone, we're just seeing him supposedly talking to her.]]
28** There's also - [[spoiler: the scream heard during the SmashToBlack when Gordon's going in to give Emma the roses, though it's overlaid onto the generator, Hank musing about how Gordon is the only one who doesn't have an "escape plan" to get out of their field, and Mikey tells Jeff about how everyone has to have something to keep them centered while working with such dangerous material, and that Gordon is a zen master of keeping his calm - but the cracks are starting to show]].
29* GollumMadeMeDoIt: Both this and SplitPersonality in regards to Mary and [[spoiler: Gordon]].
30** In Mary's case, Simon talked her into [[spoiler: [[SelfMadeOrphan brutally murdering her entire family]]]].
31** Simon is also the one who [[spoiler: gets to Gordon and first makes him murder his wife, dog and newborn child, then slaughter all his co-workers]].
32* HauntedHouse: One explanation for Gordon's SanitySlippage is that he got possessed by a ghost from the asylum.
33* HauntedHouseHistorian: Mike informs the crew about the (fictional) Patricia Willard scandal that was part of the reason why the asylum was closed down on the 1980s.
34* HearingVoices: Gordon starts hearing Simon speak to him when they get introduced to the asylum and visit Ward A.
35* ItWasHereISwear: Jeff encounters Hank in the building after the latter was thought to have left for Florida. He runs to get the rest of the crew but when they return Hank is gone and Jeff drops this stock phrase.
36* JerkAss:
37** Hank. [[spoiler: What happened to him was still rather jarring and sad though, mostly due to how drawn out it was. JerkAss or not, he didn't deserve that, but that's rather the point anyway.]]
38** Phil. Very much so. Phil is played as the biggest jerk in the movie, even worse than Hank towards the end, constantly giving the others shit and acting like an irrational asshole. [[spoiler: This is probably a RedHerring to make Phil seem even more like the killer]].
39** They're ''all'' jerkasses aside from [[TheWoobie Jeff]]. Mike is a mild Jerkass as well, since he is more on the teasing rather than cruel side.
40* TheKillerInMe: [[spoiler:The protagonist who we follow most of the time]] turns out to be the killer.
41* {{Lobotomy}}: The practice of frontal lobotomy is discussed by the workers, [[spoiler: and two eventually take place]].
42* MadnessMantra: Hank keeps repeating "What are you doing here?" over and over again. [[spoiler:These were the last words he said before he received an icepick lobotomy.]]
43* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler: Are the horrific events that take place caused by Gordon snapping and killing his wife and daughter, then suffering SanitySlippage afterward, or was he possessed by Simon before even ''that'' occurred, due to Simon's professed love of "liv[ing] in the weak and the wounded"]]?
44* MultiGenderedSplitPersonalities: A sub-plot revolves around a psychiatric patient named Mary Hobbes, who suffered from dissociative identity disorder and had three "alters" named The Princess, Billy and Simon. Billy and Simon sound very masculine and have masculine names while The Princess sounds more feminine. The film leaves it deliberately ambiguous whether this is actually a case of dissociative identity disorder or DemonicPossession.
45%%* NiceGuy: Jeff. - ZCE
46* NothingIsScarier: The only time you see any blood is in the denouement. Also, the scariest parts ([[spoiler:Gordon killing his wife and infant daughter, Mary's story, Gordon killing everyone]]) happen off screen. Though there's actually quite a bit of blood towards the end; it just isn't splattered all over the screen.
47* OnceMoreWithClarity: TheReveal provides flashbacks to all murder scenes but this time with footage of what actually happened includes a different voiceover of the inciting incident at [[spoiler:Gordon's home]].
48* OnscreenChapterTitles: The movie is split into chapters for each day, starting with Monday, with each new chapter announced via an on-screen title.
49* PaterFamilicide: TheReveal shows that [[spoiler:Gordon killed first his wife and then their baby daughter]] due to psychological stress or possession.
50* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Although there was much fuss about the tight schedule, the crew is rarely shown [[HardWorkMontage doing any actual work]] and we rather see them resting and talking. Mike even sneaks out during working hours to listen to old tapes with no one noticing.
51* PlotParallel: The B-plot of Mary Hobbes' accident with her doll leading her to become a SelfMadeOrphan by killing her whole family gets mirrored in the A-plot with [[spoiler:Gordon [[PaterFamilicide killing his wife and daughter]] in the wake of a household accident]].
52* PsychologicalHorror: There are only one or two "scare moments" throughout the film and instead the film relies on a lingering sense of tension and dread.
53* RecycledInSpace: It's basically ''Film/TheShining'' [-IN AN ABANDONED MENTAL ASYLUM!-]
54* RoomFullOfCrazy: One patient's room is full of blood-smeared photos and clippings.
55%%* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler: Gordon]]. And of course Mary from the recordings at one point.
56* SelfMadeOrphan: The backstory of Mary Hobbes, who got possessed by Simon and went on to kill her brother and her parents at a young age.
57* TheSixthRanger: Craig gets called in [[spoiler: after Hank's disappearance, only to be murdered almost immediately after arriving at the asylum]].
58* SlowElectricity: When the power generator fails, the lights turn out on Jeff one by one as he runs along the tunnel.
59* SplitPersonality: Mary from the tapes appears to have three personalities named Princess, Billy and Simon. [[spoiler:Simon is the one which drove her to murder, and the end of the film implies that Simon is now inhabiting Gordon as well.]]
60* TalkingToThemself: There are two interesting variations.
61** Mary and her personalities. Mary can't communicate with anyone else, Princess only watches Mary and talks to Billy, Billy watches everyone and can contact all but Mary (though he avoids Simon) and Simon can talk to everyone, ''including'' Mary.
62** Gordon talking with [[spoiler:already dead Phil in his head]]. Also possibly Gordon talking to [[spoiler:his dead wife on a broken phone]].
63* TooDumbToLive: Gee, Jeff, [[spoiler: your Uncle Gordon is coming towards you holding a sharp object in his hand, splattered in blood, and looking pissed, and you think it's about the ''Oreos'']]? Although this might be excused due to Jeff coming down from an adrenaline rush and nyctophobia attack.
64* ViolentGlaswegian: Double subverted. [[spoiler: Gordon]] initially appears charming, friendly and easy-going, before... well, you know.
65* VisualTitleDrop: "Session 9" is never voide-dropped but we gets close-ups on the tapes Mike listens to with the last one being titled ''Session 9'' in which Simon gets revealed.
66* WhamLine:
67-->'''[[spoiler:Simon]]:''' [[spoiler:[[DemonicPossession They always do.]]]]
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