The Sixth Sense
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 "I see dead people."
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The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, isolated boy who can see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him.
Plot
Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) is a child psychologist who receives an award on the same night that he is visited by a very unhappy ex-patient. After this encounter, Crowe takes on the task of curing a young boy with the same ills as the ex-patient (Donnie Wahlberg). This boy 'sees dead people'. Crowe spends a lot of time with the boy much to the dismay of his wife (Olivia Williams). Cole's mom (Toni Collette) is at her wit's end with what to do about her son's increasing problems. Crowe is the boy's only hope.
Why It Sees Dead People
- Director M. Night Shyamalan takes his vision from the page and carefully crafts a tale that completely absorbs the viewer.
- Director M. Night Shyamalan did a fabulous job constructing the imagery, world-building, and pseudo-horror/thriller/psychological direction of the film.
- The raw emotion; fear, is a difficult emotion to generate in a modern audience that has seen it all before, but this film succeeds where others fail, praying on the audience's imagination and generating suspense from subtle devices rather than blatant horror.
- This movie reflects on some difficult subjects that will make the viewer walk away asking eternal questions. Questions about death, about letting go, about eternal love and commitment, about the love between parent and child, and between husband and wife.
- The performances of Bruce Willis and the excellent Haley Joel Osment (who later portrayed Mesmer in The Boys, and voiced Kash D. Langford in Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and Leonard Burne/Buzzsaw in DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms) live up to an excellently directed quality storyline.
- The sheer truthfulness and honesty with which the concept of fear is expressed by all the characters, is breathtaking.
- The famous line "I see dead people."
- The film is carefully constructed, and deliberately slow so that we can absorb the excellent cinematography, and have a chance to find clues that will help us avoid preconceived ideas.
- The twist ending, and how the story led up to it so well.
- The bloody effects on the ghosts were iconic.
Reception
The Sixth Sense was praised for its performances (particularly those of Willis, Osment, and Toni Collette), atmosphere, and plot twist. with an average rating of 7.70/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense is a twisty ghost story with all the style of a classical Hollywood picture, but all the chills of a modern horror flick.". Metacritic rated it 64 out of 100 based on 35 reviews, meaning "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
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