MovieChat Forums > Session 9 (2001) Discussion > I don't see how anyone can think Simon w...

I don't see how anyone can think Simon was supernatural


The voice of "Simon" is not a demon, it's just a representation of that inner monster that lurks in people. Mary's disorder exaggerates it into a physical form that you can hear speak, but the idea is simply that you can hold your morals and your character, no matter what disorder you may have, but deep down inside, there is one part of you that can snap.

There's no evil spirit, no demon lurking in the asylum. The director tries to make this clear with several clues: Hank says Gordon has been slipping for months, "Billy" can bring out "Simon" in Mary and acknowledges him as a part of her that he keeps locked up, and Gordon emulating what patients would do later on. They try to acknowledge the connection between the "snapping" by having Gordon sit next to Mary's grave.

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I think Brad did many things to ensure nothing was set in stone. The first day Gordon arrives at the hospital, and the scene where Gordon see's the wheelchair, a dark shadow comes over him and stops. And then you hear the voice of Simon say, Hello Gordon


I dont think Gordon was just coming to terms with the bad inside himself by seeing the hospital or that wheelchair. That part just doesnt make sense to me if thats the case. The other two people he was walking with didnt create the shadow. From the lighting, the shadow was cast from something standing in front of him, in front of the light.

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I don't understand how people don't think this movie is supernatural! How else did Gordon end up in room 44 when he put up all the bloody pictures that Mary had already begun to put up? How else did Gordon coincidentally make it to the gravesite #44 where Mary was buried, when he tried to call his dead wife? How did he hear the EXACT same voice as Simon when Gordon first entered the female wing if Simon wasn't a demonic or supernatural being?

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I don't trust anyone who is 100% cocksure about something, when they're wrong.especially considering the filmmaker's commentary.

The Director did not set the movie up to 'trick' people.

How did Gordon pick Mary's room, out of all the rooms...with his own family's pictures on the wall? Why did the moment Mike found the folder with Mary's grave number on it, it flashed to Gordon showing him sitting right next to it - plot 444.

The connection between Mary and Gordon, is Simon, which is odd, wouldn't you agree - because Gordon hasn't been exposed to Mary's tape sessions. He knows nothing about Mary, yet he's gravitating towards her room and her cemetery plot, for what reason? How do you explain that, oh brilliant "DID" repeater??? Just a coincidence? In real life, sure, but the Director focused on these items on for a reason. Was it just to confuse us poor little 'demon' based theorists? NO. Directors show specific scenes for specific purposes. It is quite a 'coincidence' out of a heavily populated cemetery that the guy that is weak and vulnerable based on his personal circumstances suddenly chooses to hang around plot #444. And no, the same voice that speaks for Simon is the same voice that Gordon hears...does not make sense in the 'purely psychological' theory. Also "Why did Mary let you? Simon: "They always do, doc, they always do' while laughing." Oh, so here's a completely different voice, a completely individualized entity referring to more than one person when asked about ONE specific person, "Mary". Why did MARY let you and the entity responds "THEY always do".

Notice when the doctor asks 'Simon' where do you live - the camera shots take on a completely new view - floating above the building.

This is about mental illness as a vulnerability and an opening to influences, in this case demonic.

Not very original, but 'We accept the love we think we deserve.' Brilliant.

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The Director did not set the movie up to 'trick' people.


I think you said what I think.

IF you want to argue for a pure mental breakdown then you have to say that the Director is haunting the asylum. Since Gordon does not have an actual connection to the Mary, the coincidences can only be explained by a godlike puppet master pulling his strings. And then what is the point of the title? and the entire backstory with Mary??

In general when I hear a horror film is ambiguous {The Shining, Exorcism of Emily Rose} upon watching I find there that only the ghostly reading makes sense. Or that the materialist one requires all sorts of leaps and bounds that results in it being barely plausible.

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