A team of asbestos removers hired for a rush job at an abandoned mental asylum discover the secrets of a past patient, unlocking the buried trauma of one of the crew.

Around sixty years ago, deinstitutionalization led to the closure of psychiatric hospitals across the country, leaving only the shells of deserted estates to be used as playgrounds by ghost hunting reality series. The dark histories behind the institutions have inspired endless scary movies, and while SESSION 9 (2001) takes place in the derelict corridors of an abandoned asylum, the film veers away from any assumed supernatural occurrences, leaning into psychological terror instead.

Gordon and his asbestos removal team begin work at an unoccupied mental hospital where they’ll spend a week cleaning. Tensions rise between the men as they work under time constraints and Gordon begins losing focus, plagued by disembodied voices.

When one of the crew goes missing, another recovers a series of disturbing recorded therapy sessions of ex-patient Mary, who suffered from D.I.D., and was driven by a personality called “Simon” to murder her family. Mary’s troubling sessions haunt the hallways of the hospital as Gordon uncloaks revealing flashbacks of his alarming past.

I’d be remiss not to mention the film’s tremendously eerie score by Seattle band Climax Golden Twins that evokes a sullen, oppressive atmosphere of dread, complimenting the story of sick man’s slow descent into madness. Double remiss not to mention one of the strangest, yet iconic line readings of, “Fuck you!” I’ve ever witnessed on film. IFYFK