Top 50 Movies: Number 45

Number 45: The Sixth Sense


The Sixth Sense is something of a rarity for a horror movie. It received several Oscar nominations (including Best Picture,) it earned nearly $300 Million at the box office, and it's actually a quality film, though I would classify it more as a suspense/thriller than a horror movie, which would explain the quality. Due to its popularity, I'm sorry to say that this film has also become a part of pop culture. The "I see dead people" line was parodied everywhere, which sucks my ass. I have no real reason to mention this other than the fact that it pisses me off, and I enjoy talking about things that piss me off.

Osmont and Willis are both top notch in the Sixth Sense.

The movie stars Bruce Willis as Malcolm, a child psychologist who seems to have lost his mojo with both his job and marriage, and Haley Joel Osmont as his young, troubled patient Cole. The movie opens on a scene where Malcolm is confronted by one of his former patients: a shaky, trembling, scary-as-fuck-wearing-only-my-undies Donnie Walberg (yes, that Donnie Walberg.) Malcolm has failed with this patient, and this begins his spiral downward. He later meets up with Cole who reminds him of his past failures and gives him a chance at personal redemption. Cole is quiet, withdrawn and very intelligent. He lives alone with his mother, a woman played wonderfully by Toni Collette. Cole's behavior is often odd, and he doesn't seem to want anyone's help. He's already picked on and outcast as freak, he just wants to be normal.

We find out, of course, that Cole's secret is that he believes he is seeing and speaking to ghosts. Once he drops this bomb on his doctor, he and the audience are left to figure out whether he's crazy or not and what is really happening with the poor kid. He turns out to be a sort of unwilling messenger between the the spirit world and the physical world. This is one of those movies where there's a big twist, and everyone talked about it and told each other about and ruined it beforehand. Thankfully I don't talk to people or read or watch TV or leave the house, so the movie was unspoiled for me. The fact that Malcolm was a ghost himself didn't dawn on me until just before it was revealed. Oh yeah. There are spoilers in the preceding paragraph, but it's been 7 years since the film was released. If you haven't seen it by now, you probably weren't going to anyway.

"I'm ready to tell you my secret now."

This is one of those rare movies where every element seems to have come together perfectly: cast, script, direction were all spot on perfect. This is M Night Shyamalan's first movie, providing the zenith he has been slowly descending from since. I mean, did you see The Village? What a shitpile. Those of you with a keen eye may have noticed that the color red is prominent in the movie whenever there is a ghost near, something to keep in mind next time you see the movie. The moral of the story is this: if you're suddenly cold and can see your breath, check for red objects in the area. If you see any, you'd better bust out your Proton Pack and ghost trap thingy...