Wednesday, December 23, 2009

I wanna be sedated

"Just because you say you don't want something doesn't mean you don't want it."


Growing up in Massachusetts is great if you’re a fan of racism and homophobia, but it’s not all broken bottles and Dunkin’ Donuts regulars.  A lot of things make me proud to be from Massachusetts: the tall ships and the 1986 Red Sox World Series banner the guy mom was dating gave me that I used to mop up slime after I got over aggressive with my He-Mans, the Gardner Museum and, best of all, our illustrious mental health facilities. 

 I'm getting ahead of myself again...

When I was a little boy, Momma sent me off to Catholic school.  We weren't religious, but she couldn't resist the outfits. She was always at work, leaving me to my own devices and at the mercy of my imagination for days on end.  Couple that with religious imagery and no one gets out alive. Consequently, the Exorcist 3 movie scared the living shit out of me.  
Even in my teen years, if Exorcist 3 even happened to be on cable, I would become incapacitated with terror - too scared to even get off the sofa to turn it off.  I would have to call my best friend, Vanessa, to come over and turn it off and check my closets. This experience was nearly duplicated many years later and, for that, the #2 slot in my FaggotyAss Top 5 Films of the 2000s goes to Session 9 (2002). 


Our buildings in Massachusetts are old, with history and memories of their own.  Exploring what happens when five tough guys have a week to remove asbestos from an abandoned mental hospital, Session 9 is genuinely scary.  Psychological, naturalistic, and full of dread, this movie is the antidote to the shock and gore exploitation of Saw and its ilk.  It’s a horror film built around sound design.   Session 9 demands your attention, never pandering to the lowest common denominator or compensating for a lack of action through aggressive sound jumps and quick cuts.

FaggotyAss pro-tip: Watch this one at night with the lights out and the sound turned way up, but make sure you have a friend on retainer to turn off the TV afterwards! 

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