Nosferatu and one other movie, Session 9

I picked up Nosferatu on DVD today from HMV. It really is a beautiful film. Plus is there any scarier sight in the cinema world than when Nosferatu rises up in that one scene?

Speaking of spooky movies...others come to mind. Session 9 is an under-rated movie from 2001 about a small hazordous materials company that wins a contract to clean an old mental hospital so that it is fit for government offices.

All kinds of intrigueing layers in the plot,including the wreckage of human lives due to the satanic ritual abuse panic of the 1980s, the subtle and not-so-subtle bullying tactics that abound in working relationships, doctor-patient relationships, etc, the conflict between "therapeutic" isolation and the longing to be with someone you love. Yes, this is what Session 9 has to offer, and all the while there are mysterious disappearances of characters and clear signs of the main character's mental breakdown.

Peter Mullan (of Trainspotting fame) plays the central character, Gordon, who is one of those individuals you can count on to put his heart into the job you hire him to do. In his case, the job would be clearing out hazordous materials from buildings so that they are safe for human inhabitants. He desperately loves his wife and baby daughter, but the stress of running a small business plus something else inside him is starting to wear him down.

An event occurs early on in the movie, something the viewer only gets pieces of here and there. But before this event occurs, before Gordon's company is even awarded the contract for cleaning the building, Gordon is standing in the dark hallway of the old hospital, and he hears a voice speaking to him: "Hello Gordon. You know who I am?" Gordon does not indicate to anyone that he has heard this voice speaking to him, and the viewer really doesn't know if Gordon believes a voice spoke to him, or if he thinks it is some really weird trick his imagination is playing on him. However it does set the mood well for the character of Gordon and the hostility he senses in the environment.

I won't give away any more of the plot, just be assured that it is, indeed, a masterpiece. Peter Mullan is brilliant in portraying a man who numbly recognizes the fact that he is mentally breaking down, yet goes on with his tasks because he must. David Caruso, Brendan Sexton III, Stephen Gevedon and Josh Lucas are in this movie, too. Fine acting.