The horror classic The Sixth Sense shows that the true horror arises in one’s own imagination. 25 years ago he also shocked us with an outstanding twist that is at least as notorious as Hitchcock’s Psycho finale. But the real strength of The Sixth Sense lies in its subtle scary moments, the haunting performances of the actors and the sensitive camera work.
The Sixth Sense has lost none of its dark appeal to this day and is now available as a limited steelbook *.
The horror comes quietly: How a big ghost story conquers the screen with small means
In The Sixth Sense, child psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe is hired to unravel the secret of frightened student Cole. In fact, Malcolm gains Cole’s trust and learns his secret: he can see the spirits of the dead, who usually haunt him, so that he can help them put an end to their earthly existence.
WARNING, SPOILERS: At the very end we (and the disturbed Malcolm) find out that he too is a ghost. Accordingly, The Sixth Sense is particularly associated with the aforementioned resolution, which completely turns the entire plot around.
The resulting enthusiasm caused a true twist fever in horror cinema in the following years, such as The Others, The Village (also by Shyamalan) or Saw, and was often parodied. Last but not least, surprising twists became Shyamalan’s trademark as a filmmaker.
But The Sixth Sense has much more to offer than its shocking ending. It is a horror film that deals intensively with themes such as loss and grief. In order to discover their own secrets, the main characters must deal with those of their otherworldly visitors.
What makes Cole’s interactions with the restless souls so disturbing are the dark truths they reveal about us humans. For example, when he is haunted by Kira (Mischa Barton), a young girl who was poisoned by her own mother.
Sometimes the horror is openly visible, sometimes it continues to grow quietly in one’s own imagination. Compared to many subsequent horror films of the early 2000s, such as The Curse or sequels to the Scream series, The Sixth Sense relies little on sudden shock moments and builds up psychological horror.
In addition to emotional highlights, this rousing mixture delivers an exciting mystery factor that elegantly combines with the individual horror motifs perfect goosebumps feeling guaranteed.
“I see dead people”: The performance by Bruce Willis & Haley Joel Osment is captivating
Another great strength of The Sixth Sense is its cast. In particular, Toni Colette as Cole’s empathetic mother Lynn Searle, Bruce Willis as the calm psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe and Haley Joel Osment as the psychically gifted student Cole deliver outstanding performances.
Osmont strikes an impressive balance between deep-seated skepticism and cautious hope towards his surroundings. Willis is also convincing as a friendly, genuinely interested psychiatrist who enjoys solving psychological mysteries and manages to never appear pushy or hypocritical as he slowly gains Cole’s trust.
Dark imagery: The Sixth Sense also lives from its extraordinary camerawork
When Malcolm and Cole start their investigation, the camera is close at hand. What Shyamalan’s cinematographer Tak Fujimoto does is much more than just shooting. Rather, he gives the story more depth through his visual narrative. By consistently aligning every camera angle so that we experience the events from either Malcolm’s or Cole’s perspective, we are not just distant spectators observing the horror from outside. We are part of this horror, stuck in the middle of it.
Due to the intense imagery, we are accompanied by a constant feeling of oppression. Like a ghost train ride, we are catapulted from one horror to the next. In every scene the next scary figure is already waiting, the next piece of the puzzle on the way to the twist towards the end.
This sensitive handling of the camera increases the panic immeasurably in every real horror moment. What Cole sees, we see too. If Cole is scared, we have no choice but to be scared too. Without us noticing, Fujimoto makes us Cole and Malcolm’s confidants and creates an intense closeness between us and the main characters.
Combined with the intelligent storytelling and intense performances, Fujimoto’s aesthetic delivery combines into one dense, eerie labyrinth from which there seems to be almost no escape.
Even though the final reveal left us all speechless the first time we watched it, the real joy lies in following the two main characters for 107 minutes full of goosebumps. And that hasn’t changed even after 25 years.
You can stream The Sixth Sense at, among other places Disney+.
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