Not a horror, it's a scary drama!!

Rating: 9/10 (13 November 1999)

Sixth Sense is not a horror film. It's about ghosts and possesses a number of shocks that will levitate you from your seat but it's not a horror movie. This is a drama about a kid who can see the dead and the psychologist that tries to help him.
The film opens with Bruce Willis and his wife (Olivia Williams) celebrating his achievement of winning an award for outstanding work as a child psychologist. The night is interrupted by a former patient who Willis failed to help. He attacks Willis before killing himself.
A year on and Willis has a new patient named Cole played by the outstanding Haley Joel Osment. Willis sees in Osment a chance to make amends for the patient who he let down a number of years ago. From here on there are two plots both revolving about a family. The most interesting of which is that of Osment's. He keeps many secrets and refuses to tell his mother. He confides in Willis; he has got an ability to see the living dead. This ability has to be the most frightening that a child would ever have to face. The other less interesting plot concerns Willis and his wife who seem to be be growing apart.
M. Night Shyamalan proves himself capable as both writer and director. He uses strange camera angles to suggest the eerie nature of Osment's dilemma. His writing is also adept; it is surely Oscar-nominated material. The opening 45 minutes are quitely effective before the film really grips you. The finale is successful in what it does. It was purely designed to promote the film's chances at the box office, and it seems to have worked.