Psycho's Movie Reviews #290: The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American supernatural psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis as a child psychologist whose patient (Haley Joel Osment) can talk to the dead. The film established Shyamalan and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably his affinity for surprise endings.

Released by Buena Vista Pictures (through its Hollywood Pictures label) on August 6, 1999, critics praised its performances (particularly those of Willis, Osment, and Toni Collette), atmosphere and plot twist. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay for Shyamalan, Best Supporting Actor for Osment, and Best Supporting Actress for Collette. It was the second-highest-grossing film of 1999, taking about $293 million in the US and $379 million in other markets.

Plot

Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist in Philadelphia, returns home with his wife, Anna, after having been honoured for his work. A young man breaks into their house and accuses Malcolm of failing him. Malcolm recognizes him as Vincent Grey, a former patient he treated as a child for hallucinations. Before he can talk Vincent down, Vincent shoots him and then himself.

The next fall, Malcolm begins working with Cole Sear, a 9-year-old boy who reminds Malcolm of Vincent. Malcolm feels he must help him in order to rectify his failure and reconcile with his wife, who has become distant and cold. Cole's mother Lynn worries about his social skills, especially after seeing signs of physical harm. At a birthday party, Cole is cornered by bullies who lock him in a cupboard, causing him to violently scream in terror as if he is being attacked before passing out. Following this incident, Cole finally confides his secret to Malcolm: he sees ghosts walking around like the living, but the ghosts are unaware that they are dead.

Malcolm thinks Cole is delusional and considers dropping his case. After listening to an audiotape from a session with Vincent, Malcolm hears a weeping man begging for help in Spanish and realizes that the ghosts Cole sees are real. He suggests that Cole try to find a purpose for his gift by communicating with the ghosts and helping them finish their business. Cole is unwilling at first, but agrees to try to help.

Cole awakens one night to discover a ghost girl vomiting. After finding out who she is, Cole goes with Malcolm to the funeral reception at her home. Cole is directed to a box holding a videotape, which he gives to the ghost girl's father. The tape shows the girl's mother poisoning her daughter's food. By doing this, Cole saves the girl's younger sister from the same fate.

Learning to not be spooked by ghosts, Cole begins to fit in at school and is cast as the lead in the school play. Before departing, Cole suggests that Malcolm should try speaking to Anna while she is asleep. Stuck in traffic, Cole tells his mother his secret, and says that someone died in an accident down the road. When Lynn does not believe him, Cole tells her his grandmother visits him and describes how she saw Lynn in a dance performance when she was a child, giving details he could not have known.

Malcolm returns home to find his wife asleep and their wedding video playing. Talking in her sleep, Anna asks why he left her and drops Malcolm's wedding ring. Recalling what Cole told him about how dead people see only what they want to see, Malcolm starts to see things he did not see earlier. He recalls being shot and locates his gunshot wound and he discovers that he died that night from the wound and has been dead the entire time he was working with Cole. Malcolm tells his wife she was never second to anything and that he loves her. Because of Cole's efforts, Malcolm's business is finally complete, and his spirit departs in a flash of light.

Production

David Vogel, then-president of production of Walt Disney Studios, read Shyamalan's spec script and loved it. Without obtaining corporate approval, Vogel bought the rights, despite the price of $3 million and the stipulation that Shyamalan could direct the film. Disney dismissed Vogel from his position at the studio, and Vogel left company shortly thereafter. Disney sold the production rights to Spyglass Entertainment, while retaining the distribution rights and 12.5% of the film's box office takings.

During the casting process for the role of Cole Sear, Shyamalan had been apprehensive about Osment's video audition, saying later he was "this really sweet cherub, kind of beautiful, blond boy". Shyamalan saw the role as darker and more brooding but felt that Osment "nailed it with the vulnerability and the need. He was able to convey a need as a human being in a way that was amazing to see."

Willis was cast in the role of Malcolm Crow as part of a deal to compensate the studio for Willis's role in the implosion of Broadway Brawler the year before.

The colour red is absent from most of the film, but it is used prominently in a few isolated shots for "anything in the real world that has been tainted by the other world" and "to connote really explosively emotional moments and situations". Examples include the door of the church where Cole seeks sanctuary; the balloon, carpet, and Cole's sweater at the birthday party; the tent in which he first encounters Kyra; the volume numbers on Crowe's tape recorder; the doorknob on the locked basement door where Malcolm's office is located; the shirt that Anna wears at the restaurant; Kyra's mother's dress at the wake; and the shawl wrapped around the sleeping Anna.

All the clothes Malcolm wears are items he wore or touched the evening before his death, including his overcoat, his blue rowing sweatshirt and the different layers of his suit. Though the filmmakers were careful about clues of Malcolm's true state, the camera zooms slowly towards his face when Cole says, "I see dead people." The filmmakers initially feared this would be too much of a giveaway, but left it in.

Location filming took place mostly in streets and buildings of Philadelphia, notable at St. Augustine's Church on 4th and New Streets in Old City and on Saint Albans Street in Southwest Centre City.

Marisa Tomei was considered for the role of Lynn Sear.

Michael Cera auditioned for the role of Cole Sear, and Liam Aiken was offered the role but turned it down.

Release/Reception/Box Office

After a six-month online promotion campaign, The Sixth Sense was released on VHS and DVD by Hollywood Pictures Home Video on March 28, 2000. It would go on to become the top-selling DVD of 2000, with more than 2.5 million units shipped, as well as the top video rental title of all-time.

The Sixth Sense received positive reviews; Osment in particular was widely praised for his performance. On the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 86% based on reviews from 158 critics, 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 favourable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.

By vote of the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Sixth Sense was awarded the Nebula Award for Best Script during 1999. The film was No. 71 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments, for the scene where Cole encounters a female ghost in his tent. It was named the 89th best American film of all time in a 2007 poll by the American Film Institute.

The line "I see dead people" from the film became a popular catchphrase after its release, scoring No. 44 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

The Sixth Sense also scored 60th place on AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills, honouring America's most "heart pounding movies".

The film had a production budget of approximately $40 million (plus $25 million for prints and advertising). It grossed $26.6 million in its opening weekend and spent five weeks as the number 1 film at the U.S. box office becoming only the second film after Titanic (1997) to have grossed more than $20 million a weekend for five weekends. It earned $293,506,292 in the United States and Canada and a worldwide gross of $672,806,292, ranking it 35th on the list of box-office money earners in the U.S. as of April 2010. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 57.5 million tickets in the US. In the United Kingdom, it was given at first a limited release on nine screens, and entered at No. 8 before climbing up to No. 1 the next week with 430 theatres playing the film. It had a record opening in the Netherlands.

Budget $40 million

Box office $672.8 million

My Review

My latest outing to the local multiplex was to see this, the second biggest horror film of 1999 after The Blair Witch Project. Unfortunately for me, the film had already been ruined partially by trailers, which give away all the key moments of the film. I for one could do without them, as I spent most of the time waiting for the kid to say "I see dead people", "...all the time" and "she's standing by my window". Seeing as these are the best moments of the film, a lot of the impact was softened.

Saying that, The Sixth Sense is still an expertly-crafted, entertaining film with some great acting (something lacking in a lot of recent blockbusters), and I'm glad that it's enjoying huge success at the moment - hopefully horror film-makers will turn their minds to something a bit more insightful and psychological rather than the latest gore fest. This is an extremely slow-moving film with no action in it whatsoever, no screaming girls being chased by maniacs, just important dialogue and realistic people in real situations. There are plenty of reasons to watch the film for. When we eventually start seeing the 'ghosts' that Cole himself sees, there is ample opportunity for some chills, and the ghosts themselves are really quite frightening - both in their behaviour, and of course their gory looks. These spooks are of the kind The Haunting remake could have done with.

The acting is of the highest calibre, with a relatively unknown cast headed by that great action star, Bruce Willis. Willis turns in his most sombre, thoughtful performance ever, and surprised many people who didn't realise he could actually act. In fact I would say that this the best I've ever seen him - his character is sympathetic, and Willis really does excel himself in portraying a believable, faded and disheartened man. Toni Collette also puts in a good role as the frustrated mother of Cole, and even though she doesn't play a likable character and has a relatively supporting role in the proceedings, she remains a totally believable and understandable character, and the same can be said of Olivia Williams. However, it's Haley Joel Osment who really shines as the star of the piece, and his acting is spot on, conveying a boy totally in fear of his own unnatural abilities, and who labels himself a 'freak'. Thankfully, Osment doesn't get too many opportunities to do 'cute' scenes, which I was grateful for.

Aside from the many genuine chills at Cole's revelations that he can see dead people, there are a few too many 'jump' scenes for my liking, where somebody brushes past the camera and somebody screams. A variation on the cat in the cupboard, really. However what seems to be initially an average film is suddenly boosted by the now famous twist in the tale, which really changes your entire perception of the film and makes you think about how clever it was long after the images have faded from the screen. This ending was brilliant, one of the best I've seen, and I should probably watch the film again now that I know the outcome, in order to spot all the clues, as it were. The Sixth Sense may not be the greatest horror film ever, but it's one of the best we've had in a long time.

I have to say I am not a fan generally of M Night Shyamalan's films, but I absolutely loved The Sixth Sense. It is a beautifully made film with an afterlife that is anything but angels and harps, and the score has lots of subtlety and atmosphere to it. The script is chilling, intelligent and poignant and the story complete with a knockout twist ending (easily the best and only wholly believable ending of Shyamalan's movies) is simplicity at its finest. Shyamalan's direction is wonderfully controlled, which is exactly what the story needed. Haley Joel Osment gives perhaps his best performance here, though he's superb in AI too, while Toni Collette plays the troubled mum very convincingly and Bruce Willis is suitably quiet and reflective. Overall, a wonderful film and Shyamalan's best by a mile in my opinion. 10/10