‘They don’t see each other. They only see what they want to see…’
As with comedy, fear is subjective. What scares one person might have no impact on someone else. Without getting too philosophical early doors, I believe that after you die, there is nothing. This is not an inkling or a hunch, I believe it deep in my bones in the same way that a person of faith believes in the after life. And so, the concept of a ghost is utterly terrifying for me because of what it represents. If I were to see an actual ghost, it would completely destroy the one firmly held belief in my life that has defined everything else. The confirmed existence of the after life would shatter me in a way that no other revelation could. And that’s why watching The Sixth Sense will always be one of the most terrifying cinematic experiences of my life…
Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) sees dead people. He sees them all the time. His long- suffering mother (Toni Collette) enlists the help of child psychologist, Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) to help with Cole’s social anxiety. Crowe is also dealing with the breakdown of his marriage to Anna (Olivia Williams) following an incident in which he was shot by a troubled former patient (Donnie Wahlberg) a few years previously.
While M. Night Shyamalan’s later career is easily derided, The Sixth Sense is where everything came together perfectly for the Philadelphia auteur. His off-kilter, stilted dialogue actually fits here, particularly when delivered by Osment (in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest performances from a child actor ever), and his use of light and shadow (as well as the repeated utilisation of the colour red to signal the onset of the ‘other’ world) is masterful. Throw in an expertly understated performance from Willis, and Tak Fujimoto’s transcendent photography and you are left with a genuine horror masterpiece.
In terms of cultural impact, the film introduced the world to Shyamalan’s unique brand of genre filmmaking (as well as the patented Shyamalan twist), was a monster financial hit (it is currently the 117th highest grossing film of all time) and was nominated for six (!) Oscars (unheard of for a horror film). By any metric possible, there is no denying that The Sixth Sense had a seismic impact on cinema and on popular culture more generally. In a year that was famously one of the best movie years ever (1999 – look it up), Shyamalan’s sophomore effort remains one of the best films not just of that year but of the decade.
The Sixth Sense has everything. It’s profound, it’s emotionally affecting, and it’s also utterly terrifying. There are moments in this film that will haunt me forever. They come screaming back to me at 3am on those nights when sleep is elusive and the creaking of the floorboards on the stairs takes on a sinister new meaning.
A masterpiece.
