By Jacob Cameron

On August 6th, 1999, The Sixth Sense was released in movie theaters. This was the film that launched the directing career of M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan had directed two films before Sixth Sense: 1992’s Praying with Anger and 1998’s Wide Awake. However due to the success of The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan’s career was launched into the stratosphere. To the point that he has a new film coming to theaters on August 2nd; Trap, starring Josh Hartnett. But The Sixth Sense is more than just the film that launched Shyamalan; this is one of the most effective ghost stories ever put to film.

The film tells the story of a young boy named Cole, played by Haley Joel Osment, who has the ability to see and communicate with the dead. It is the ability that he keeps secret because it terrifies him. Cole’s mother, played by Toni Collette, worries that something is wrong due to Cole’s demeanor and mysterious signs of physical abuse. Near the start of the film, Cole begins to see a child psychologist named Malcolm Crowe, played by Bruce Willis. Crowe has demons of his own that he has been dealing with; including the fallout from a harrowing experience with one of his former patients. 

The ending of this film is one of the most famous endings in film history. While the ending remains effective all these years later, the rest of the film is just as much of a masterpiece. Atmosphere and mystery are the keys to the success of this film. Two aspects of this film that remain underrated all these years later are Tak Fujimoto’s cinematography and James Newton Howard’s haunting score. A scene from the film that remains terrifying to this day involves a bunch of kids locking Cole away in a cupboard at a kid’s birthday party. Cole is openly scared of the cupboard for a reason known only to him and that fear is exploited in a naked and dangerous manner. This sequence leads into the now infamous quote, “I see dead people.”

Through visual storytelling, you learn that the ghosts that visit Cole are not all dangerous. In fact, a lot of the ghosts that visit Cole have business to finish before their spirits can rest. Cole reveals, through communication with the spirit of a dead girl, that the girl’s mother had been poisoning her and her younger sister. This is revealed through a videotape recorded in secret and revealed to the father at the funeral reception. 

Bruce Willis and Toni Collette are both fantastic in their respective roles. Willis’ turn as Crow would cap off a 1990s that included roles in The Fifth Element, two Die Hard films, and Armageddon. Crow’s relationship with Cole feels wholesome. This feeling is doubled by Toni Collette who plays Cole’s mother. One of the best scenes in the film is when both characters are stuck waiting for an accident to clear. Cole reveals details about her mom’s childhood that he could have never known; unless he was told said details by something or someone.

As mentioned, this film has a very famous ending. Malcolm Crow can speak to Cole because he is a ghost who has a business that remains incomplete on Earth. Shyamalan’s twist endings are notable and unpredictable in terms of their quality. This was one of Shyamalan’s better endings. It’s an ending that holds up tremendously well. The Sixth Sense is Shyamalan’s high watermark. He would go on to further success, but nothing to the level of this film.