The Sixth Sense

In case you can't tell, I'm in a bit of a horror mood as of lately in that I've been watching probably the most tame horror movies out there. I'm actually basing my horror watching experience off the least jump scary movies I can find on this handy little website, Where's the Jump.

On this journey though, I thought it was the best opportunity to finally delve into the M Night Shyamalan films and witness the quick rise to fame, the drastic fall from grace, and the eventual comeback? Maybe? We're see when I get around to Split. But I know it all began when a little movie called The Sixth Sense came out.

Now without giving away myself, I did go into this movie knowing the famous Shyamalan twist at the end. I'm not going to give it away myself because if by some chance you haven't seen this film and you haven't had the end spoiled for you, watch this movie ASAP because it is done in a way that is pretty masterful. But even if you don't know the twist, I still highly recommend watching this film because even without the twist, it is a pretty amazing and actually surprising knowing what we know about M Night and how his career progressed that this movie is as good as people claim it is.

The Sixth Sense centers around a child psychologist by the name of Malcolm Crowe (played by Bruce Willis). Malcolm is hired to look into the case of a young boy by the name of Cole Sear (played by Haley Joel Osment).

Cole is a strange little boy who is having difficulty in school and is socially despondent. His mother (played by Toni Collette) is having difficulty raising him since her divorce to his father. Malcolm believes that he can help this kid with the issues that he is facing.

However, Cole is not like any other child that Malcolm has run across before and he soon starts to realize that there is something darker and disturbing going on with Cole than he realizes. The story takes them down a very dark path of the supernatural and haunting spirits. All the while, Malcolm tries to help this troubled little boy with a secret he is hiding from everybody.

Now this movie was a cultural icon during the 2000s and was parodied over and over again. I stayed away from it because as I've mentioned before, when I was a kid even Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone scared me. Even today I still have difficulty with jump scares and there are a couple in this film if you're at all like me and want to know about that before hand. Like I said, Where's the Jump might be able to help if you're expecting it at all.

But with all the hype, I couldn't really believe that the film was that good. And yet when I watched it last night I couldn't really believe how much I was really enjoying this film. There is a lot to love. Again, I wouldn't necessarily call this a horror film as much as I would call it a supernatural drama/thriller. The supernatural elements are really interesting. But on top of the supernatural elements, it is also a really interesting drama about a kid going through a pretty traumatic experience and the psychologist helping him through it.

I am of the popular theory that the less hair Bruce Willis has in a movie, the less he is going to give a shit about anything going on. In this movie he has a pretty solid widows peak but he has a good amount of hair and you can definitely tell. Now, it is Bruce Willis so he's still going to give his stares along with his tough guy persona, but he really does give a damn in this film and you can tell.

I don't know why Willis stopped working with M Night because it seems like the movies that were the best (or at least from what I've heard) are the ones with him and Shyamalan. He gives a very compassionate and thought provoking performance in this film. Not only is he dealing with the troubles he is finding with Cole, but he has his own issues with his wife Anna (played by Olivia Williams).

I've always really enjoyed Bruce Willis as an actor. I think he's really entertaining when he wants to be and I really enjoy his work. I do have a hard time watching these films though because he definitely shows that he is talented and but while there are really good early performances by him in films like this, there are a lot of film that have come out these days that point out that he has stopped giving much of a damn about his performances.

If I remember correctly, the big appeal of this film though was the breakout performance of Haley Joel Osment. While Osment's first performance was in Forrest Gump, this was the one that I think people know him best for. This again is a situation where I wasn't sure if it was just the hype or if he actually did a great job and it's definitely the latter.

Osment plays Cole in a way that makes him so sympathetic but yet very brave and unique. He's a kid that is going through something that he knows nobody will really understand. He's also just a very good kid who just wants to do the right thing as well as not be scared anymore.

But the real appeal is these two working together.

The majority of the scenes in this film, and the scenes that work the best are the scenes where it is just Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment playing off one another. Like I said, both of them have a lot of baggage and they need to get through something. They're able to do it together and it really is a heartwarming film more than it is scary or frightening. And as much as that probably makes me a wuss, I enjoy "horror" films that are more focused on the story and the characters rather than the scares.

I will say it again. If by some act of god, you don't know the twist of this film, get on Netflix now and watch The Sixth Sense. If you are one of those people, I envy you incredibly because I would have loved to watch this film and discover the twist on my own. But again, even if you do know the twist, it still is a solid movie and really worth checking out. The exact way it all comes together is really well done and I do have to give a lot of credit to M Night Shyamalan. I think it was a little premature back in the 2000s to call him the next Steven Spielberg, but he definitely had a bright future ahead of him. I really hope that future comes back, especially if I enjoy Unbreakable as much as I think I'm going to. I'm going to try and watch that this weekend. Hopefully this is the start of watching the decline of M Night.

But have you seen The Sixth Sense? Did you see it without knowing the twist at the end? What was your experience watching this film? Discuss your thoughts on the comment section below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Like I said, I'm gonna try and do a few more M Night Shyamalan films, at least the ones that breached on good or bad (or the ones I can find on streaming services). Here's the trailer for my next one, Unbreakable.