Review of The Sixth Sense (1999) by Jordan K — 28 Oct 2015

M. Night Shymalan has a sloppy film resume. He went a bit overboard after making this thriller masterpiece The Sixth Sense, which he made his directorial name clear after introducing a compelling story with breathtakingly rich scenes, fantastic performances and characters with an overall atmosphere that isn't particularly scary but at least a little chilling. His other films are another story we'll get to later, but The Sixth Sense is one of the most intriguing horror films of all time.

Dr. Malcolm Crowe, an esteemed child psychologist, helps a young boy, Cole Sears, who hauntingly reminds him of a previous patient, Vincent, who grew up to become mental and shoot Malcolm. Malcolm, a year later, helps Cole mainly to comprehend Vincent's similar problem. Cole reveals that he sees chilling images of ghosts and Malcolm must help him confront them and a challenging social and at home life suffering from a complex parental divorce. The Sixth Sense is particularly known for its surprisingly twist ending - for the record, I didn't know about the ending unlike many walking into the movie and I'm glad I didn't.

The Sixth Sense is extraordinary. Willis' character is almost comforting himself to the viewer and Osment portrays his character in such an realistic manner at such a young age. The story is compelling and some scenes were literally breathtaking - for example, the scene where Cole first confronts a ghost adds a sense of genuine curiousity and sympathy for the fear of the character. The story has been done a few times before but adds so many nicely done twists that makes it unique from the other paranormal films before it. Some future films like Paranormal Activity tend to feed off of some elements from The Sixth Sense and fail for the most part. The Sixth Sense is an all around fantastic thriller and is the epitome of a chilling film, not a ridiculously overdone horror. The Sixth Sense is particularly significant in its genre and in pop culture in its entirety - it paved the way for a genre that captured many filmgoers and introduced them to an all new kind of fear. Let's try to forget about the other M. Night movies while we're at it...