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The Sixth Sense

There are some movies that you just can’t escape – whether you’ve actually seen them or not, they are a part of your life. I finally sat down to watch The Sixth Sense in 2025, a mere 26 years after it was released into the world by a then 28-year-old little known director named M. Night Shyamalan. It’s October, which means it is scary movie season for me, and The Sixth Sense has been on my list for a while now; part of the reason I never got around to watching it was because, as you might have guessed, I already knew the big twist (as I’m sure you do too). It was hard to motivate myself to sit down and watch this movie when I’d already had the big twist ending spoiled for what feels like my entire lifetime – I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t know that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. Lucky for me though, even knowing that while watching the film, I still really enjoyed my time and was pleasantly surprised by the artistry, simplicity, and patience of a director that has had a less-than-stellar reputation in the past decade and a half.

Watching a movie that features a surprise ending or plot twist can be one of the biggest joys for a film lover, especially if you are lucky enough to get to see it in theaters. Back in 1999, the internet was still in its infancy and spoiler territory was much less traversed than it is now. There weren’t podcasts that were breaking down every frame of the movie the day after it released, there wasn’t social media where online trolls spoiled the big ending for everyone just for kicks, and there weren’t any streaming services that these movies went directly on for everyone to watch and discuss immediately. You saw a trailer on the television or saw a billboard advertising the movie, you paid your $5 for the movie ticket1 and you watched the movie and then asked around your friend group who went and saw it over the weekend – and if you wanted to see if there was anything you missed, you simply went back to the theater and watched it again. Of course, there were some print media and blog reviews that may have spoiled the ending for people, but that was quite a rarity back then. One of the biggest bummers one can have in their lifetime is simply being born when they were – I was born in 1993, so there were certain movies that I was just born into having spoiled for me, i.e. The Empire Strikes Back. I wish I could have seen The Sixth Sense in the theaters and experienced the wild revelation that Malcolm Crowe was one of the dead people that Cole could see. Alas, I did not, and instead I watched the film on my computer 26 years later and still had a great time with it.

One of the big themes you will notice throughout the categories is that I was taken aback by how impressed I was with this movie. Shyamalan’s reputation precedes him, so I was expecting a clunky, predictable movie that was considered great only because it did something first, and not the best – I recently watched Friday the 13th and boy howdy was that a rough watch y’all. It felt like it was so obviously ripping off Halloween, but it wasn’t even trying to be different; there was no originality to it, and they had no idea how to end the movie. It was quite a disappointment given the legendary status that the franchise has in the horror genre. The Sixth Sense, however, has rightfully earned its reputation as one of the best thrillers of the modern era, and the massive haul that it took home from the box office proved that it had a larger audience than just the horror nerds. People were excited and moved by this film and its directing, along with the stellar performances from the top of the bill – and I am one of them!

With that being said, let’s get a better sense2 of this movie with some categories.

By the Numbers

  • Release date: August 6, 1999
  • Budget: $40 million
  • Box office: $672.8 million
  • Run time: 107 minutes
  • Letterboxd rating: 4.1 ★
  • My Letterboxd rating: 4.0 ★
  • Rotten Tomatoes: (Certified Fresh 🍅)
  • Accolades: 41 total nominations, 17 total wins
    • 6 Academy Award nominations, 0 wins (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing)
    • 2 Golden Globe nominations, 0 wins (Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay)
  • Three: This was M. Night Shyamalan’s third feature film that he directed

Best Scene

  • Opening Scene: Another movie, another opening scene nominated; if I’m writing about a movie, odds are it has a very strong opening scene, and The Sixth Sense is no different. Donnie Wahlberg is throwing 105mph in this scene and helps immediately set the tone for the rest of the film. His performance is incredibly affecting and helps lay the groundwork for why Dr. Crowe acts the way he does for the remainder of the film and why he wants to help Cole out so badly. Really good stuff here.
  • Anniversary Dinner: Here we have Dr. Crowe showing up late to his anniversary dinner and explaining that he’s having trouble keeping track of time. Anna never once lifts her head to meet his eyeline and doesn’t say a word until after she has paid the check and mutters a quiet “Happy anniversary” before walking away. This is one of the first tells in the movie, but when you’re watching it with a clear conscience it just seems like they are in a fight. Shyamalan was very clever in how he directed this scene to have it make even more sense watching it once you realize Dr. Crowe isn’t actually there.
  • I See Dead People: Here it is folks – one of the most iconic lines ever read in cinematic history. Is that hyperbole? I don’t think so. This is one of the few lines that I think the vast majority of people over the age of ten have heard, whether they know it is from this movie or not. Outside of that single line though, this entire scene is really good as well. Haley Joel Osment’s acting prowess is on full display here as he goes toe-to-toe with Bruce Willis and doesn’t look out of place at all.
  • Do I Make Her Proud?: The heart and soul of the entire film is right here, and it got to me. I won’t shy away from it – this scene made me cry, and I was not expecting to cry during an M. Night Shyamalan movie at all, but I did. The fact that this scene can have this kind of emotional payoff is owed in no small part to the work of HJO and Toni Collette throughout the entire film – they have great mother/son chemistry and both put in incredible performances that allow you to connect to each of them separately, as well as together as a family unit that is really being put through the ringer. I think this one takes the cake for me.
  • They Don’t Know They’re Dead: We finally get the big twist of the movie – Dr. Crowe has been dead this whole time, and Cole has been talking to a ghost. More than that, though, we have Malcolm finally coming to terms with Anna and giving both of them closure to move on and let each other go. Similar to the previous scene, this one doesn’t work without the patience of the writing and the performances from all involved. This scene is also a surprisingly beautiful portrayal of dealing with grief, loss, and how to live your life without your life partner.

What’s Aged the Best

Haley Joel Osment’s performance was rightfully lauded when this movie was released, and it has aged even better. He’s not your typical child actor in a movie where you’re just getting reaction shots of them, or they just need to stand in one place and say a line while looking cute. HJO was tasked with showing the biggest range of emotions of anyone in this film, he is in practically every scene, and he has either the most or the second most lines as well. I mentioned earlier that he also went toe-to-toe with Bruce Willis throughout the movie, and he never looked out of place – this is also owed in part to the discipline and skill of Bruce Willis as an actor as well. Acting across from an eleven-year-old can be a tricky thing; it can be easy to come across as condescending or as if you’re talking down to the child actor in order to “help them along” or “guide” them through the scene, but Willis treats HJO as a contemporary, which allows both of them to deliver really powerful performances. I mentioned this a little bit already as well, but the pacing (and patience) of this movie has aged really well – most summer blockbuster movies don’t have nearly the patience enough to let a story like this unfurl slowly and take its time, and the movie is better off for it.

What’s Aged the Worst

Well let’s get it out of the way – M. Night Shyamalan’s career certainly didn’t age that well. He went on a little bit of a run after The Sixth Sense, directing Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village, all of which have at least a decent amount of fan appreciation or cult status, but then we get into the mid-2000s which is when it really goes south. Shyamalan followed up The Village with Lady in the Water, The Happening, The Last Airbender, After Earth, and The Visit, all of which are pretty universally maligned, with The Last Airbender being widely considered one of the worst films of all time. His movies went from being interesting sci-fi thrillers to poorly written stories with overwrought and highly expected plot twists – he became more of a schtick than a respected director. Credit where credit is due, though – Shyamalan stuck with what he wanted to make and told the stories he wanted to tell, and his movies were continually successful in the box office despite what critics and audiences may have been saying about them.3 And another credit to him for basically cutting out his own corner of Hollywood that very few people have been able to do. When I say the name Martin Scorsese, you know what kind of movie you are getting. When I say the name Steven Spielberg, you know what kind of movie you are getting. And when I say the name M. Night Shyamalan, you also know what kind of movie you are getting.

The Jason Clarke Award (What’s Their Name Again?)

For all intents and purposes, nobody is winning this award – I either fully recognized everyone or didn’t know them at all and hadn’t seen them in anything else. So, for that reason, nobody wins. However, there is someone who can win this award for me personally, but it is more so on a technicality than anything else. I didn’t recognize Olivia Williams at all during this movie, but when I was researching for this post, I discovered that she was recently in a TV show that I watched called Dune: Prophecy. She is 26 years older in the show and that is the only thing I’ve seen her in, so I didn’t have much to work with in terms of recognizing her as a 31-year-old in 1999. But, on that technicality…congratulations, Olivia!

The Jack Nicholson Award (Big Impact, Small Role)

Hands down, this award is going to Donnie Wahlberg for his portrayal of Vincent Gray in the opening scene. I already spoke about it earlier, but his performance here is electric and really kicks the movie into gear right off the jump. Wahlberg allegedly lost over 40 pounds and shaved his eyebrows just for those three minutes he had on screen, which is quite the commitment to such a small role, and perfectly represents what this award is all about! Congratulations, Donnie!

The Roger Deakins Award (Best Cinematography)

There are some really cool moments throughout this movie, but I think my favorite comes towards the beginning of the movie when Cole is sitting in the kitchen eating his cereal while his mom does some laundry. The camera follows Lynn from the kitchen into the next room where she grabs a tie from the drying machine and then follows her right back into the kitchen, where all of a sudden, every single cabinet and drawer has been opened. It’s a simple shot but it is incredibly effective and works to communicate the strangeness of the movie as well as Cole as a person – is he evil incarnate? Does he have telekinetic powers? Or is someone else opening all of the drawers?

Trivial Pursuit

  • One of the reasons that Haley Joel Osment got the role of Cole Sear was his professionalism and dedication to the job – Osment was reportedly the only boy who wore a tie to his audition. Furthermore, director M. Night Shyamalan was surprised when he asked Osment if he read his part. Osment replied, “I read it three times last night.” Shyamalan was impressed, saying, “Wow, you read your part three times?” To which Osment replied, “No, I read the script three times.”
  • David Vogel, who was running production at Walt Disney Studios at the time, read M. Night Shyamalan’s script and was instantly hooked. He went ahead and bought the rights for $3 million – without even getting approval from the higher-ups. Part of the deal was that Shyamalan got to direct the movie himself. Vogel was later removed from his position at Disney.
  • Director M. Night Shyamalan appears in the film as Dr. Hill, who examines Cole after the incident at the birthday party.
  • In 2000, around 80 million people rented the movie, making it the most popular VHS and DVD release of the year.
  • Michael Cera auditioned for the role of Cole Sear, and Marisa Tomei auditioned for the role of Lynn Sear.
  • This was the first of two movies Bruce Willis owed Disney after he shut down another project, The Broadway Brawler, when he fired the director. For this one, he took home $10 million—about half of what he usually made at the time.
  • The movie held the number one spot at the U.S. box office for five straight weeks, becoming only the second film – after Titanic – to pull in over $20 million each weekend during that stretch.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

  • Bruce Willis: 2 (Willis appeared in Marauders with Dave Bautista, who appeared in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special with Kevin Bacon)
  • Haley Joel Osment: 2 (Osment appeared in Secondhand Lions with Kyra Sedgwick, who appeared in Cop Car with Kevin Bacon)
  • Toni Collette: 2 (Collette appeared in Juror #2 with Kiefer Sutherland, who appeared in A Few Good Men with Kevin Bacon)
  • I checked all the major acting credits for this movie, and the highest number was two. The theory lives!

Would My Mom Like This Movie?

On the surface, I think so – but in practice, I think not. The general premise of the movie would probably interest her, what with a child psychologist trying to help a boy get over the trauma of his parents’ divorce who then tells said psychologist that he has the supernatural ability to see and communicate with the dead. But thrillers aren’t her thing, and she doesn’t really enjoy the concept of a movie intentionally stressing you out and trying to scare you. This one is pretty light on the scares, but I still think it would be a safer bet for her to pass on it.

Conclusion

For as much of a bad rap as M. Night Shyamalan has gotten over his career in pop culture, he certainly didn’t get there without first intriguing people. If he was just a no-name director who consistently put out bad movies, nobody would know his name and we wouldn’t be talking about him right now. But he established himself as a household name with The Sixth Sense and took a rightful spot in the “I need to see his movies when they come out” camp at the turn of the century, along with people like Spielberg, Scorsese, and Tarantino. Along those same lines, Haley Joel Osment cemented himself among the greatest child performers of all time next to the likes of Shirley Temple and Judy Garland. The depth and nuance that HJO was able to portray with his performance is lightyears above so many other child performances, which to this day still makes him the second youngest actor of all time to be nominated at the Academy Awards.4 I really enjoyed my time with this movie, and I was pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth and tug-at-your-heartstrings effect that it has. It may not be super high on my re-watchable list, but I certainly wouldn’t turn it down if someone suggested it for a scary movie night.

  1. Yes, I looked this up and the average movie ticket price in 1999 was $5.06. I miss the 90s. ↩︎
  2. I’ll see myself out. ↩︎
  3. In total, Shyamalan has generated $3.241 billion at the box office, ranking him as the 30th-highest grossing director of all time. Not bad. ↩︎
  4. Justin Henry, who was nominated for his performance in Kramer vs. Kramer, was only eight years old. ↩︎