The Sixth Sense review.
Twenty-five years ago, M. Night Shyamalan and The Sixth Sense took over the world. Our look back on a giant commercial and creative horror hit.
Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.
The Sixth Sense
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Written by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams, Donnie Wahlberg, Glenn Fitzgerald and Mischa Barton
The Sixth Sense Review
1999 was a big year for movies. It saw the cultural phenomenon that is Star Wars return to theater with its first new chapter since Return of the Jedi. The Phantom Menace wasn’t the only movie to make a massive pop culture impact that year. The Matrix, The Mummy and The Blair Witch Project all caught box office fire and launched legacies that endure to this day. Star Wars obviously sat atop the final box office numbers when the dust settled on a big year in film. Another movie, however, came out of nowhere to take second place. A ghost story from an unknown director named M. Night Shyamalan became the talk of talk of 1999. With an unforgettable twist and some of the most effective mainstream horror imagery ever committed to film…The Sixth Sense became a juggernaut.
Bruce Willis had long been established as a movie star before The Sixth Sense. He was new to horror, however. The closest thing on his resume was the Robert Zemeckis hit Death Becomes Her. Shyamalan was an unknown commodity. The Sixth Sense wasn’t his first movie…though you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was. He had previously directed a student film and a forgotten Rosie O’Donnell flop. 1999 proved to be a game-changer for the writer/director. His name became a brand following the creative and critical success of The Sixth Sense. New Shyamalan movies became event pictures. His career has seen major highs and lows in the last 25 years. There is no mistaking that this horror entry was his career peak.
Shyamalan secured his only Oscar nominations (for direction and original screenplay) and helmed the rare horror film to be nominated for Best Picture. All three awards went to American Beauty. Rising star Toni Collette received her only Oscar nomination (which seems impossible) for Best Supporting Actress. A young Haley Joel Osment took home a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Those awards would go to Angelina Jolie and Michael Caine, respectively. It also received a nomination for Best Editing. The Matrix took home the statue. Despite going 0-6 on Hollywood’s biggest night…The Sixth Sense stands as one of the few horror films to garner such Oscar attention.
In 1999…it was all about the twist. One of the most famous twist endings in film history helped The Sixth Sense maintain a strong word of mouth for weeks after release. It spent six straight weeks atop the box office. It’s unlikely that you clicked on this review without knowing the ending of this movie. It’s a brilliant one. Deserving of the accolades that followed it. Most impressive is how close Shyamalan comes to making the whole thing too obvious right out of the gate.
Bruce Willis’s Malcolm Crowe is shot in the opening scene. For a movie that was marketed around Haley Joel Osment’s Cole saying “I see dead people” …it was quite the gambit. Shyamalan uses camera tricks and a narrative loophole (ghosts see what they want) to cover the deception. More importantly, he finds a way to marry that opening action to Cole’s story. Both the former patient who shot him (an unrecognizable Donnie Wahlberg) and Cole share the same affliction. It allows your brain to accept that Malcolm had recovered from his injury and the scene existed solely to show the dark path Cole could end up on without his help. Shyamalan pushes all aspects of the story onto Cole…allowing Malcolm’s true story to play out in the background.
Repeat viewings of The Sixth Sense prove that Shyamalan’s tricks work. They also show that the movie is excellent even after you know the big secret. There is some incredibly effective horror imagery here. Combined with the excellent performances and Shyamalan’s trademark patient style…you are left with one great ghost story even without the twist.
Unfortunately, Shyamalan would learn the wrong lessons from his massive breakthrough feature. The slow pacing that perfectly fits a ghost story playing a sly trick on you has plagued much of his work no matter the genre. His early reliance on twists became a running joke. Movies that don’t have one sometimes feel like they’re missing something…movies that do are often met with eyerolls that he has returned to the same well. Despite some creative and commercial success…Shyamalan’s career often feels like it falls victim to his own gigantic success.
None of this has slowed Shyamalan’s effort to create interesting new films. For every The Happening, Lady in the Water or The Last Airbender…Shyamalan has delivered a Split, The Visit or Knock at the Cabin. His misses can be huge (After Earth) but his hits are just as big (Unbreakable). All told, he’s probably around 50/50 on good movies vs. bad movies. But he continues to take big swings whether he connects or not. He never connected more than he did with The Sixth Sense.
PG-13 horror tends to get a bad rap. The Sixth Sense proves that there is nothing in the rating preventing you from making a great horror movie. Shyamalan provides memorable thrills that caught the attention of the mainstream audience. He uses horror to tell a story about isolation and the fear that you are different. Cole’s secret alienates him from everyone…including his mother. The story builds towards an emotional climax as Cole learns how to deal with his gift…and connect to his mother. Then it’s time for Shyamalan to drop the big twist. His story about learning not to fear ghosts had been hiding a ghost in plain sight.
Malcolms story is beautifully tragic. We watch as he conducts his unfinished business while neither he nor we understand that’s he’s doing it. He needs to help Cole after failing the patient who killed him. His wife (Olivia Williams) quietly lives out a life in mourning. The movie presents it as a struggling marriage. The scenes are infinitely sadder once you understand their true meaning. For as effective as Shyamalan is at creating scares…he’s even better at turning his ghosts into tragic figures. An entire layer hidden from view until he decides to reveal it.
The first time you watch The Sixth Sense is like seeing a great magic trick. It can be downright astonishing. 25 years later…we all know how the trick is done. You can’t recapture the feeling of being fooled. Shyamalan built a second secret into his best work, however. While everyone in 1999 was talking about the twist…they were missing his greatest trick. He had made one of the best ghost stories in cinema history. One that doesn’t rely on a surprise ending to remain an effectively scary, emotional experience. A movie that will stand the test of time…and still manage to shock viewers who go into it blind.
Scare Value
Shyamalan‘s ghost story holds up a quarter of a century later. It also continues to cast a large shadow over the rest of his career. The Sixth Sense remains his finest hour. It elevated Shyamalan’s films to event status. 25 years of ups and downs do nothing to dull the effectiveness of this classic. Neither does knowing the story’s legendary twist. A remarkable work.
4.5/5
The Sixth Sense Links
Streaming on Max
Rent/Buy on VOD from Amazon and Fandango at Home
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
